


Into the Wild

by DesertHeart



Series: Into the Wild [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Mute Link (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-10-25 14:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 38,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17726702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertHeart/pseuds/DesertHeart
Summary: This is the first in my series that covers the gameplay of the game. This covers the Great Platuea. Link awakes and has to navigate some sort of test before returning to normal life.Link is mute, bisexual, and a disaster.I am Deaf and use ASL. Link uses HSL which I took serious liberties with.CURRENTLY BEING EDITED FOR CLARITY, SPELLING, AND GRAMMER AS OF 9/14/19EDIT COMPLETE AS OF 9/21/19





	1. First Breath

**Author's Note:**

> I really enjoyed this game and I had so many ideas about how this world would work especially with a character like Link who many consider to be Deaf/Mute or even Autistic! Whatever you believe him to be I fully support you. This story will play with bisexual themes because HOT. To many attractive people. Poor Link. Please keep in mind that I am Deaf and occasionally my perceptions of sounds may be a bit incorrect I did choose to make Link Mute simply because that is my personal favorite. I do already have all the chapters written. I orginally wanted to write through the whole game. But I think I am going to end this one after the great plateau. If you would like me to keep writing please leave a comment to let me know.

 

I felt like I was floating. In a sea of dark cool water which surrounded me from all sides. It soothed me and reassured me. I remembered nothing except the coolness of the water around me and the peace that it brought. I desired nothing else and I was happy and content where I was. I didn't know what I was and it didn't matter. I was simply there, I simply existed. No one required anything of me and I didn't really understand that I didn't have any responsibilities because the concept of such a thing wasn't one that I understood or was even aware of. However, sometimes my peace was disturbed. I could hear something, maybe a voice which called to me but I couldn't understand it. It seemed like just some sort of baseless noise. I ignored it. If I couldn't comprehend it then it was not my concern. Time passed, I didn't know how much. Time was another concept that I didn't really understand. I was aware of it, but it didn't bother me. So I never tried to mark the passage of time. I just floated. Eventually I became aware of the fact that the noises were coming more often. Or maybe I was just becoming more aware of them? I wasn't sure, just that my peace seemed to slowly begin being disturbed more often than before. Occasionally I began to become overwhelmed with a feeling of dread. Though I didn't have the word to explain that to myself, this feeling of sinking in my gut the desire to move to break free from my prison that I floated in. Then I would calm. This was no prison. I simply needed to relax and let nothing bother me.

For the most part nothing did. Slowly concepts began to come back to me. Responsibilities and time. Belief and courage. Trickling in were understandings of things that I didn't remember or understand, understanding. Such as the fact that I had a body and I knew what I looked like. That I was aware of senses, sight, blackness, I could not open my eyes. But I was becoming aware that I had eyes and that if I could open them I would see something besides the darkness that was the only substantial thing I remembered. Scent, I had a nose as well as eyes, I could use it to detect different shifts in the atmosphere around me and it would aid me in perception of a world around me. But what did that mean? The concept was there pressing into my understanding but it wasn't making full connections. Noise, my ears would hear things, detecting vibrations through the air which would allow me to communicate with other beings or detect danger. Danger? What danger? What was danger? It made me feel nasty again. Taste, taste, taste. I knew the word but the concept behind it failed to rationalize. Touch, feeling, the Coolness on my skin was a result of this sensation. Touch.

"Link!"

The noise, that noise had returned. But this time I was more aware of myself and senses. I was hearing a voice. But what was it saying to me? I could easily assume that it was words but what did those words mean? They faded out again and I lost concern for them. Time passed. How much or how little I did not know for I did not care and time meant nothing here.

"Link!"

This time when I hear it I understand the word a little bit more. My understanding of language and the concept of it has slowly been returning to me. Link. A link was a piece used to connect other pieces. In a sentence you would say something like, this is the missing link for the puzzle. However understanding the word did not become my missing link to understand what was happening to me or why I was hearing this voice. I fade into uncaring once more, and time passes.

"Link!"

This time when I hear the word link, there is an image that flashes in my mind. An image of a hand which appears to be holding a shape and gesturing. After a sluggish moment my mind is able to connect the pieces. It is sign language. A version of language used by those who could not hear or could not speak. It allowed them to communicate. I reimagined the movement. Many times. It was the first proper image my mind had supplied me with. I suppose I dreamed, but only in blackness for my mind remembered nothing else to dream about. But now I had this image of a hand word for the voice word, link. I play the image obsessively and if falls into place, link. No! Not link. Link! The hand movement wasn't a simple word it was what was known as a name sign, assigned differently to distinguish between people just like the cadence of syllables in a voice name. Link was a name. This voice wasn't just randomly shouting a word, it was shouting a name! I feel overjoyed with this revelation before I slip back into the soothing calm of my quiet world.

"Link!"

I jar out of my mind quicker this time, the name was being called again. The connection slides into place, my name? The voice that had been disturbing me for as long as I could remember was calling my name? I try to answer but nothing happens. My mind supplies words that flash across my mind connected to images of sign language. I understand that the images match the words. Yes! My mind tries to respond. Yes I am here! What do you want? Where are you? Where am I? But I know that I actually do not communicate anything to whatever being is calling for me. I struggle this time to stay what I understand now is conscious. But I fail and slip beneath what now feels like the waves of an ocean.

"Link!"

This time I know the voice. I've heard it before. The image of a being swims before my eyes but doesn't solidify. I can't place it but I should know the person calling to me. The tone of the voice is urgent this time, and I'm aware that I'm hearing the voice only within my mind and not through my ears. I don't fall back under this time. I am still aware of myself, and I am aware of the time that is passing. But not how it is passing, is this fast? Slow? I don't know, just that it is passing. This frustrates me. But then it comes again, clearer, and I understand it far more than before.

"Open your eyes!"

I try, and there is a light shining in my eyes for the first time, I close them again.

"Open your eyes!"

I startle, it was back so soon and the words were so different I'm aware no time has passed between these repetitions of the new sentence. And I open them peering blurred up at the odd blue light of the peculiar but also familiar contraption that is above me. How strange. How very strange,

"Open your eyes!"

The voice again! I am! I try to respond but nothing happens. My mouth moves. Water flows into it and I gasp coughing.

"Wake up Link."

The voice, I am awake, but this seems to be some sort of signal as the water that I am floating in, ah, the coolness that had surrounded me, slowly began to drain away. I appear to be in some sort of tub. The voice does not come back and I blink adjusting to the light and looking around slowly. I do not try to really move though. I become aware that I am naked. How odd. My mind supplies that people like me don't normally walk around naked. Eventually the tub is empty and I slowly pull myself out of the tub. The entire room looks like the tub. With odd swirling patterns that jut out from the walls and the same strange blue lights. There is a pedestal a distance away next to what my mind tells me is a door. Supplying images of doors that I must have seen before but have no true memory of.

I sit there for a long time waiting and adjusting. This is all so different from what I am used to. Nothing changes so I decide I must do something. I explore the room, nothing except the pedestal. So I approach it looking down on it confused. I reach out and touch it, and it glows blue just like the strange lights, I try to pull away in alarm but I seem to be glued there as it emits strange noise, noise I hear with my ears and not my mind like the voice, the mechanics swirl and soon it slides up a slate looking thing and my hand is released. I pull back from it examining my hand which seems fine before looking at it cautiously again.

"That is a sheikah slate. Take it. It will help guide you after your long slumber."

The voice again giving me more instructions, it seems a bit bossy if I am to be honest. But I do as instructed because there is nothing else to do except breath in the musty damp scent of the room. The slate is really more of a tablet I discover, the smooth exterior is fascinating, it seems familiar but I have no recollection of it.

"Channel your energy into it to power it."

I frown, what does that mean? But once more my mind knows the answer before I do and does as instructed. I feel an odd sensation tugging from my gut through my arm to the tablet and it powers up. I startle once more and resign myself to doing so many more times. The pedestal closes itself even as the door to the room slowly opens. It seems safe enough the same strange blue light in the next room as well and so I pass through into a similar room. There is a series of chests in this room and instinctively I know what they are for and I approach them lifting the lids which are rusty and take a bit of prying to open. They are old but I want to know what is inside. Clothing. And a bag, and some odd belt thing. Holding it up I realize it has a slot to hold the sheikah slate. I dress, grateful to be covered now and wondering if the odd voice I can hear could see me this whole time. I slide the slate into place once I'm fully dressed and stretch. The clothes fit perfectly but they are old and smell odd. I am also aware that they will offer me no protection. Blinking I become unsure what I would need protection from. There is nothing else useful in the room so I approach the next door which appears locked like the first one. There is a pedestal nearby it as well, glowing an orange color instead of blue. So I approach it holding out a hand and laying it on the pedestal like last time. It doesn't work, instead I hear,

"Hold the sheikah slate up to the pedestal, that will show you the way."

Perhaps it is my imagination but the voice sounds relieved. Annoyed I pull my hand away unhooking the slate and do as instructed by the odd disembodied voice in my head. I wonder if I am crazy. The orange glow turns blue and then the odd contraption speaks!

"Authenticating...."

I jump back from it in alarm baring my teeth in primal fear of this thing I do not understand and have no desire to.

"Sheikah slate confirmed."

The locked door slowly opens and I am assaulted by different scents that I don't fully understand and the light filtering through is different from what I have grown used to in this strange room. I am once again aware of time passing though I still don’t know how much as I simply stand there in surprise.

"Link."

The original voice, not the odd contraption,

"You are the light, our light. That must shine upon Hyrule once again, now go."

I slowly blink at the surge of information my mind supplies me with. Hyrule is a country. Your country, more accurately a kingdom. I struggle to understand what a kingdom is the word floats in and out of my understanding. I don't truly understand what the voice was trying to tell me, but it felt really heavy. Trying to push it off I gradually exit the room up the stairs and into the light, the thought crosses my mind,

Into the wild.  
My first,  
Breath of the wild.


	2. Strange Old Man

Obviously as I head out I proceed to trip face first into a puddle of water. This is not the same cool soothing of before. It's gross and I don't like it. As I pull myself up in frustration, I then see a giant rock blocking my path. Great. So I climb it. It has plenty of curvy handhelds and isn't very big so right up I go and finally I am stepping actually out of the cave. It's bright, it's so bright, and everything is green. I slowly and cautiously make my way forward till I find myself standing on a cliff edge looking out over what feels like the whole world. My mind supplies the words that I am missing for things around me. Castle. Volcano. Volcano???? Trees. Grass. I stand there for a while before slowly turning back to look at the entrance to where I was. I see a pathway leading down the high area that I am on. There is a person standing there. Staring at me. So I do what any sane Hylian would do. I go the other way hoping that the person goes away. I've known nothing but the odd voice in my mind forever and I'm not ready for that to change. So I climb the trees. I gather food and supplies and put them into my bag. I seem to already know what is edible or not and what is useful. I admire the beauty around me and try to catch a squirrel. I fail spectacularly. I don’t wander too far. I can't really, sheer cliffs surround me making my only viable path down the pathway with the man. I gather some mushrooms. Hylian shrooms specifically. I remember that there are other types of mushrooms as well. This is the first time I am aware of the energy that exists in this world that may be known to some as magic, to others as mana. Scientists would say it was simply natural. The sun changes positions in the sky and this is my first clear indication and understanding of the passing of time. So I go back to peer over that hill. He is still there. 

I take a deep breath. Maybe he was waiting for me... so I slowly start heading down the path to get this over with. Right as I have made this decision the voice returns. This time I know it comes from a female. 

"Link, check the map on the sheikah slate and head towards the mark."

Uncertainly I pull the tablet out allowing my energy, magic, mana, take your pick, to power up the device looking at the screen. There is a small icon that reads map. There are plenty of other small icon squares as well though they don’t seem to be functioning. I click the map icon and a "map" appears. It seems to show a small arrow that appears to be the location of the tablet and a blinking yellow dot off in the distance. That's not very helpful. There is nothing else. Not much of a map. However I was grateful for the idea of a direction to go in, though this new objective that I should question due to its origin, still takes me past the old man who is still there though now sitting on the ground by a fire. I collect a few more apples from trees as I approach as slowly as I can. I can feel him watching me. As I near the fire I spot something else on the ground near me. Curiously I bend down and pick it up. It appears to be an apple but it's darker and softer. 

Suddenly the man shouts at me and I jump backwards dropping the apple like thing and staring at him with wide eyes. 

"I BEG YOUR PARDON! I do believe that is my baked apple! You can’t just go about taking whatever you please!"

I shake my head quickly gesturing with my arms in an attempt to apologize to him but he continues quickly.

"Oho ho! Forgive me, I could not resist pulling your leg! Please help yourself. An apple and an open flame make for a succulent treat."

I nod slowly cautiously picking the baked apple back up and taking a hesitant bite as he watches me. I hum in appreciation.

"It is a bit strange to see another soul in these parts."

He looks at me expectantly as if wanting an explanation. I however am annoyed. He wants an explanation from me? He was standing there waiting for me! Absolutely not! It didn't matter that I didn't actually have anything to tell him. I wasn't going to! I set the apple down and raise my hands, and it just comes naturally to me. My hands slowly move in the shapes of the images that flash through my mind along with words. Hand signs, sign language. And I use that sign language to ask him, 

'Who are you?'

I slowly lower my arms. Why did I do that? Why didn’t I just say it? The answer comes to me even as I should be paying attention to the man. I am mute. Suddenly I understand what that means. I cannot use the spoken word. I hear it fine and can understand it, but my mouth has never successfully used the language. I take a slow breath. So I am one of those people who use sign language for communication. I automatically know that not everyone knows the language and I wonder how I will be understood. I do not grieve for the language I cannot speak. I know it has always been this way. I don't mind. This is just who I am, and I am comfortable. I look back up at the man intending to shrug at him again and tap my throat to try and tell him I can't answer his question but he is chuckling. 

"Me? I will spare you my life story."

I blink in shock and make a small grunting noise. Which also surprises me. First of all, I can apparently make sound just not words, second, was my earlier intuition wrong? Did most people understand me? Or did it just so happen that this man could? I narrow my eyes. It seems suspicious. He was waiting for me and understands my communication method. How odd... he continues speaking without my input. 

"I'm just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now. What brings a bright eyed young man like you to a place like this?"

I blink at him in confusion. I don't even know where we are. My hands ask that exact question 'where are we?'

"Answering a question with a question. That is fair enough." The old man chuckles. "As I cannot imagine our meeting to be a simple coincidence... I shall tell you. This is the Great Plateau. According to legend this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule." He points off into the distance and I see a huge dilapidated building. I frown. I was willing to bet all my shrooms on the fact that this place was probably the location the blinking yellow alert on the sheikah was taking me too. This meeting was definitely not a coincidence. "That temple there... long ago, it was the site of many sacred ceremonies. Ever since the decline of the kingdom 100 years ago, it has sat abandoned, in a state of decay. Yet another forgotten entity. A mere ghost of its former self..." the old man then turns and stares back into the fire seeming to completely lose interest in me. I slowly back away from him. I consider roasting my shrooms but... later. With a different fire away from this man whom seems too tired to even communicate with me anymore. I look down the path towards the temple and shrug. It doesn't seem that far. It doesn't seem like it would hurt to try and head there.


	3. Temple of Time

The distance seems greater now that I am on the road. I've found a woodcutter axe just lying around and I took it. Maybe I'm a thief but the only person up here seems to be the old man and I will return it later. It makes me feel safer to have it strapped to my back with what appears to be a harness system that was specifically designed to hold a sword and shield strapped to me. I found it in my bag. I am very glad for this because I follow the worn beaten path to the temple and this brings me across my first creature. It's red in color and carrying a stick. The horn on its head gleams as it charges for me and I whip the axe off my back amazed at how easily it slides off to allow me to fight. I have an axe and the creature just has a stick, so I rather easily cut through the crude weapon and easily dispatch its head from its body. I blink impressed with myself. It seems I am a good fighter. I wonder where I learned to fight and what other things I will be able to do due to muscle memory. I don't have time to think on this more as I realize that something strange is happening before me. I watch as the body of the creature seems to dissipate into a black smoke with red swirls, leaving behind the horn. Shakily I pick up the horn and slowly look around. What in the world had just happened. Was this some sort of magical creature like the slate was a magical item? What did all of this mean? I didn't really understand. I even hoped that the voice or the old man would appear and explain this to me. I decide to take the horn with me thinking that it might have some use later and I tuck it into my bag. 

By this point I am aware that I have lost my memory. I have instincts and knowledge about my world and language but I can't remember a time before the coolness of the tub in the cave. The logical conclusion is that I had a life before the tub but I can't remember it. No explanations are forthcoming so I continue on to the temple with the hope that some sort of explanation would be available there. Though I expected I would simply receive more questions...

I run into a few more of the red creatures on my way up, they were easily defeated and all disappeared in the same way. I was truly impressed with my own skill. I must have been some sort or warrior before and my muscle memory was still functioning and I remembered how to defend myself. I knew I was lucky because I would have been like a baby out here otherwise. I continued to track past what was old buildings, perhaps of a town that once existed around the temple. Halfway over one of these ways I saw IT. Some sort of many legged spindly creature with a body in the middle of its legs that slowly tapered up. It had similar swirls as the room I woke up in and the slate at my hip. Just glimpsing it made me freeze in my steps and my pulse start racing, sweat dripping down my face, the urge to run away almost overpowering, it took me a moment to realize that I was afraid. Afraid of this old broken creature that did not seem to be alive, was never alive. It seemed more machine than living being. However I felt that it could come alive at any moment and I carefully crept past it. 

In one of the houses I found another old chest like the ones in my waking place. I pried this one open as well hoping to find something of use that the old residents had left behind. Inside were a pair of trousers that looked in better repair than my current ones. I quickly changed feeling a bit better with the warmer softer cloth on my body. My old pair, first pair? Had basically been rags with holes in them. 

At last I found myself standing at the destroyed entrance of the temple. I could easily see inside, and I was disappointed. There was nothing here. Just grass and broken stone. I headed inside anyway seeing another one of those spindly creatures. There was a large statue of a woman at the back of the building. I felt a little uneasy under its gaze and instead started looting through the grass and broken stones. I eventually came across several more chests and started prying them open. It seemed chests were the popular way to store things. It seemed silly to me. Surely a trunk was much better. Maybe it was just that these were prettier. I was rewarded for my efforts with a bow and seven arrows. Excellent progress. Slowly I approach the statue when I have nothing else to do. It felt natural to kneel before it and so I did. Then I waited, and waited. Then I waited some more. Nothing happened. Sorely disappointed and a bit angry I stood. 

When nothing happens still, I pull out the sheikah and cross reference with the map. To my absolute annoyance I am nowhere near the yellow marker it wants me to go to. So if I had actually made a deal with someone, it seems that I would have lost all of my shrooms. I suppose this makes it a good thing that I have not spoken with anyone besides that old man. I don't even know why I'm listening to the odd voice in my head and this tablet anyway. Sighing I tuck it away and slowly loop around the temple looking for something, anything. I find a ladder. That goes all the way up to the roof. Okay, interesting enough. So I climb up it balancing casually on the edge of the roof I spot what looks like a room in the ruins of what must have been the tower. I carefully make my way across the crumbling roof thinking for a moment that maybe I shouldn't be up here but I was a curious being and I felt like a child, maybe mentally I am a bit of a child. Either way I find myself there at what used to be a room and I pull myself up. 

It's slightly disappointing. The view is amazing but the room is empty, just a trunk. Which of course I go and pry open. No one else was going to be using it anytime soon. There is another bow in this one, still rusty but seems better made than the other. I switch them out leaving my old one inside just in case. Carefully I make my way back down disappointed. I'm tired now and it seems to be getting later the sky is starting to lose some of its light. I make my decision and head back up the hill that I came from. I would rest for the night in the cave that I first awoke in. It's a tiring trek but I feel this need to be inside somewhere nice and safe for the night. The old man is not at the fire when I pass. I make a note of this but really I am glad of it, tomorrow if I remember I can cook some of my apples there. When I finally make it back to the cave, the sun is setting and almost completely gone. My anxiety is skyrocketing though I don't know why. I quickly make my way inside turning to the first pedestal and examining it, I slide the sheikah slate over it hoping that will lock the door again like it did before. To my relief it does. I step through the next door and do the same, just in case, the uneasiness fading as it clunks closed. Something must be out there at night that I can't remember yet. I hope I never find out what that something is. The room is just like I left it though there is no water in the tub. I climb inside of it anyway feeling safe inside of it. I had a water skin with my supplies from earlier in my bag and had filled it at one of the ponds so I have some water for my dinner which is apples and mushrooms. Not long after I fall asleep while making plans about what tomorrow may bring.


	4. The Sheikah Slates Directions

I don't know if the sun is up by the time that I wake and I have no way to know, so I simply sleep until I am no longer tired before I get up and eat some more of my food, I need to look for more, luckily there seems to be plenty just out and about that is edible. Now that I have a bow and arrow I can try to hunt as well. I wonder if I am as good at that as I am at using a melee weapon, the axe. I quickly put my weapons back on, making sure my supplies bag and water skin are safely secured before pulling the slate out. I am going to go to the blinking alert point now. When I power up the map icon I notice another marking on the other wise black map. I'm not sure why it's black what use is that? But now instead of just my location arrow and the blinking alert, there is a blue symbol in the shape of a building. I tap on it curiously and a name pops up. The shrine of resurrection. Even more interesting is the fact that I appear to be on top of this blue icon. I must be inside of it. 

So the name of my safe place is the shrine of resurrection. How Interesting, and the implications behind that are overwhelming, was I resurrected? Is that why I can't remember anything before the voice started to speak with me? Perhaps this map will be useful after all, though, once again, I am left with more questions than answers. Determined not to waste the waking hours I stand and head back outside locking doors as I go. I have a plan and I intend to follow it. 

Once again the only real way is down the pathway unless I want to climb down the cliffs. I consider it if I see that old man standing on the pathway again. But as I peer down it I don't see him so I go ahead and walk down instead. When I get to the fire I remember the baked apple I had yesterday so I think about cooking some food but I also remember that it will be hard to carry once it's all soft so I bypass it even though I want to taste it again. Maybe for dinner. I'm hoping the trip will only take half of my walking time so I can make it back to the safety of my shrine. As I continue down I wonder how I would cook it. Maybe I could stick the mushrooms on a stick and hold it over the fire? Oh! Or on the end of my arrow! That's only one at a time but I can stick the metal end in to sanitize it, hopefully, and it should be easier! I come to the end of the pathway glancing at the sun, instinctually I know it's still morning the sun is low and the day feels new. Good so I hopefully have plenty of time. I pull the sheikah slate back out and observe it carefully to see which way I need to go. I don't want to get lost out here and this map is so vague I know it will be easy to do so. Maybe the map is damaged and that's why it's like this? Too bad I have no way to fix it. I pass untold beauty on the plains and ponds, I catch a frog, and I fight several more of those red creatures. My bag is steadily filling up with the leftover parts from them. The only good thing about those creatures is that they have weapons that I can collect, and shields. I carry what I can without hindering myself and stash what I can't hiding them for my trip back and abandoning the weaker ones for the steel of the swords. Though I wonder what poor soul lost to these creatures in order for the creatures to have collected these items. 

Then I see it, a peculiar skull shaped stone jutting out of the ground, maybe it's an actual skull of some other creature? I shouldn't approach but my curiosity is pushing me forward. "Curiosity killed the cat, Link." An exasperated voice calls in my head. It's not the same as hearing the voice though and I think maybe this is a memory of someone saying these words to me from before. This gives me hope that I will regain all of my memory. However I am still standing there looking at the skull, I make my decision, I shall investigate. 

I approach it slowly, I was cautious after all, though part of me wants to just barge right in for the hell of it. On my way towards it I come across a campfire with several of the red creatures, and a beautiful hunk of meat roasting over the fire. My mouth immediately starts drooling, I don't even know what sort of meat it is, not hylian thankfully, but I am starving. I had the apples and shrooms but I need some meat to keep me going. But there are several of the creatures. I find a high vantage on the rock area beside the camp and pull out my bow and arrows. Time to find out if I was any good. I miss the first few times but make head shots on a few as well. They are aware of me now though and trying to get to me, my adrenaline starts pumping harder and I'm able to dispatch the rest. I don't even pick up the loot or my arrows I simply run right for the fire testing the meat and finding it tender and ready. I carefully pull it down and gorge myself on it. It's wonderful. No seasonings to speak of but I don't care. This is much better than the frog I had been planning on eating. It appears that my luck is with me. When I am full I put the rest of the meat in my food bag as well as collecting anything useful from the camp that I can carry. But I don't have much space to carry things so a lot of things get left behind though I am pleased to find that some of my arrows have not broken. I wish I had a way to wrap the meat in but nothing is around here. So I continue towards the skull in high spirits and feeling like I can conquer the world. Which is good because I discover that the skull is some sort of base for the red creatures. There is one on a watch tower outside of the structure. I start to wonder if maybe they are more sophisticated than I first imagined. Everyone deserves to live. But I remember my previous attempts to communicate with them and remember that they seem intent on killing me. I don't know what they are but they are bad news. So I sneak around the one watch tower climbing up onto the skull, for a moment I wonder if this is part of my magic, this is far to smooth for me to climb my mind is telling me but I manage it just fine. It is obvious that I have gifts, not everyone does, my mind tells me. But only people with the gift can use the sheikah slate. Or climb up abnormally smooth rock. Subtle manipulation of the world around me. Well I can't dwell on it while I'm preparing to fight. Once on top I shoot the sentry and climb down to peer through the eye hole. I quickly hide myself, there is a blue one in there! It looks much stronger than the others and I am immediately stressed out over the situation. I carefully observe finding that they have lit a wood burning lantern. There is also lots of wood inside the structure. Maybe if I knock it over they will be caught in the fire? I carefully aim, and shoot, and promptly miss, though I hit one of the creatures. None of them seem to have arrows though they are now trying to climb to get to me. I quickly do my best to eliminate the threat. It takes a bit longer than the other camp but I succeed. Then I rest. I have no intention of moving for some amount of time. Once I feel better I climb down and unfortunately find that I missed one of the adversaries. It jumps out at me and its sword grazes my arm as I jump back reaching for my sword now strapped to my back which I had picked up earlier from a different creature, it is the blue one. How could I have been so foolish? It takes longer to dispatch this one but I succeed and trudge into the structure to take another rest. During this rest I tend to my wound, it doesn't seem very deep thankfully though the blood is quite messy on the sleeve of my shirt. I don't have anything to treat it with so once I am sure it isn't bad I just leave it be. I then gather the useful loot and find a small what looks like handmade trunk. Did the creatures make this themselves? Regardless I throw it open, on accident since I am used to prying them open and this one just opens, and carefully peer inside. Inside are arrows with peculiar patterns carved into them. I slide them out carefully and examine them. My instinct is to feed my energy into them and so I do and pull back as they light aflame. 

That is amazing. 

If I draw back then feed my energy I can shoot a flaming arrow at an enemy. I am glad that I hadn't succeeded in setting the room on fire now since I would have lost such a treasure. And since this seems like a safe place to leave things, I stack some of the weapons I like but can't carry inside for me to return for later. I relax in the shaded structure and examine the area around memorizing it before checking my map again. I'm not far from the mark on the map! I look out to see if I could spot my destination but just see the same beautiful landscape for as far as I can see. Nothing special. So after a rest, I continue on my way. 

With the aid of the map I make it to the spot. It appears as if rock has encased some sort of metal structure that has similar swirling patterns to the sheikah slate and the shrine. I find a small entrance and step into a kind of cave. There in the middle is a pedestal like in the shrine. I know that this must have been what was sending me that signal. I check the slate and the signal is still there but I am standing right on top of it. I know what to do. Put the slate on the pedestal and feed my energy through it. What I don't know is what will happen when I do that. 

However I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. So I do exactly that.


	5. Tower and a mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope all of you are enjoying this. If you are please leave a comment or something. Feedback welcomed. Suggestions or ideas are welcome as well. I would love to chat.

The moment that I place the slate into the slot a voice seems to come from the pedestal like before. 

"Sheikah slate activated, please watch for falling rocks." 

What? Watch for falling rocks? What did it mean why would it say that? Then the world began to shake. I drop to my knees and protect my head with my shield. Standard procedure in an earthquake right? I wonder where I've been in an earthquake before to remember this. The shaking goes on and on and I hear the panicked cries of creatures and animals from all over the area and then peculiarly enough I feel as if I am rising off the ground. When it stops I look up and see that I am high off the ground now in a tower. The orange lights are slowly turning blue all around me. I am in awe, how did I get so high, what is going on this tower just sprouted out of the ground? The pedestal begins speaking to me again and I put my shield back in its spot standing carefully 

"Distilling local information,"

The blue energy which I now recognize as magic slowly builds up in the weird cone figure and slowly drops a bit of the magic onto the sheikah slate. The slate makes a singing noise as if confirming the transfer of energy and I wonder what exactly it has done. Then it speaks again. 

"Regional map extracted."

Oh, surely that is good news, pleased I lift the slate back out intending to examine what the map has given me now when I hear it again, the voice, her voice. 

"Remember, try... try to remember..."

The voice is once again in my mind, but off in the distance I also see a bright light coming from the castle shape in the distance. Frowning I jog over to the edge to peer out at it. 

"You have been asleep for the past 100 years,"

What? How could somebody sleep for 100 years? With that thought I regain a better understanding of time. Minutes, hours, days, months, years. 100 years is longer than a normal lifespan. How old am I now? My age deluded me. 100 years, sleeping? Or dead? Perhaps I was just sleeping in that cool tub in the shrine of resurrection and I didn't truly come back from the dead? Perhaps I simply was severely injured and in a comatose state? I don't have time to continue considering it as the voice continues. When it does the ground begins to shake again and I try to step away from the edge of the tower, but I see the purple and black clouds slowly rising from the ground around the castle. It was similar to what appears when I defeat one of those red or blue creatures. Perhaps it is some other sort of magic? 

"The beast.. when the beast regains it's TRUE power, the world will face its end."

Thank you disembodied voice in my head that's not ominous at all. The creature continues to rise and circle the castle as the light that I see from inside of the castle grows brighter and brighter. A beautiful display of magical abilities but seems a bit dramatic too, honestly. 

"Now then... you must hurry Link. Before it's too late..."

Before what's too late? The light fades but the creature does not. I finally step away from the edge taking a deep breath. That was ominous and a bit terrifying. Does the voice expect for me to go and somehow defeat that mountain of a beast? That's absolutely crazy. There was no way I could do that. What the hell did it want from me. I take slow deep breaths. It was so far away. I had plenty of time to figure this out. I pull the map out and am pleased to see that this tower is marked on the map by a different blue icon than the shrine. It's labeled the great plateau tower. Easy enough. A small section around is also colored now and shows forests and water and elevation. The rest of the map is still black though. I play around with it and learn to use it like a telescope. I use that to watch the beast for a while before continuing to mess with it learning that I can place markers on the map to help myself find places. Excellent. This really was turning out to be useful. I see the sun is at the noon position. It's only been half a day and I've done all of this. I eat another apple and some more of the meat though it is cold now. What do I do now? Climb down the tower I suppose. Once I recover from the shocking events of the last hour. Eventually I start searching for a way down and locate a hole in the ground that leads to the side of the tower which conveniently has platforms and lots of hand holds. This makes it rather easy to descend the tower and make it safely to the ground. 

As I set my feet on the ground I hear a shout from behind me and I quickly turn around falling into a defensive stance pulling my shield and sword out on instinct. But it's just the old man from before, he is setting down on the ground from the sky holding onto a bar connected to a big triangular piece of cloth. I stare at it curiously and gasp as I see it start to fold in on itself until it's just a small bar in the man's hand which he attaches to his belt. A magical artifact! Amazing! He can use it to fly! Well more accurately glide. But still. It's amazing and an interesting show of the magic in Hyrule. I wish I could do something similar with all the extra weapons I had found. Make them smaller then enlarge them later for use. It would be useful to be able to carry more than one sword or shield. The man observes me for a moment and I look up at him I know he is here for a reason. Otherwise why would he have shown up here? I figured he had been watching me the whole time. 

After a bit of this "My, my... it would seem we have quite the enigma here."

I roll my eyes at him and wait for him to continue and get to the point. 

"This tower and others just like it have erupted across the land, one after another. It's almost as though... a long dormant power has awoken quite suddenly."

I frown looking around us, I only see one tower, but there are more? Do they all expand my map and give me more information? I think I like that idea. 

"If you do not mind me asking... did anything... odd occur while you were on top that tower?"

I turn my suspicious gaze back upon him. What did he know? Should I tell him about the voice I have heard even before I had awoken? Did he already know? Would he think I was crazy? Maybe if he did he would leave me alone.

'I heard a voice.' I slowly lowered my hands once I had finished. Vague enough. 

"Well now! A voice you say!" He seems very excited about this and I tense up a bit nervously. I decide I must not be much of a people person. 

"And did you happen to recognize this mysterious voice?" His hopeful cadence makes me want to tell him everything. That when I hear it I see a flash of gold hair, that it's a girl, that I feel like I might know her. But it isn't enough information so I just shake my head no because technically I don't recognize it even though I feel like I absolutely should. 

"I see... well that is unfortunate." I scowl at him this time, what did it even matter to him? He definitely knew more than he was letting on. Why wouldn't he just come out and tell me about it? He turns to look towards the castle off in the distance silent for a moment. I turn to look at it as well hoping that beast had disappeared. No such luck of course. "I assume you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle. That is... Calamity Ganon. One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyrule to ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path. So many innocent lives were lost in its wake. For a century the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain that evil, but just barely. There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching."

He turns to look at me and I pointedly continue looking at the castle. I have a feeling that this is why I am here after 100 years. I'm supposed to defeat that thing. Well I wanted to go and find the source of the voice anyway. An even deeper and darker thought nags at me though. What if I fought it 100 years ago and failed and I'm the reason those people died? But the magic of the land or something gave me another shot at defeating this thing and saving this kingdom? That thought just clicks into place and it feels right. Like it belongs there. But along with it guilt slowly slides in. 

"I must ask you, courageous one... do you intend to make your way to the castle?"

I feel like I have no choice as I slowly nod my head still not looking at him. I don't feel courageous at all right now, just terrified. How in the world am I going to defeat that thing? 

"I had a feeling you would say that. Here on this isolated plateau we are surrounded on all sides by steep cliffs with no way down. If you were to try to jump off, well.. no death could be more certain. Or more foolish. Even with your natural climbing ability you would not make it down." I glance at him my eyes narrowing. I was right, on both accounts. It was an ability that allowed me to climb so well and this man knew much more than he was letting on. 

"Of course if you had a paraglider like mine, that would be quite a different story."

The paraglider! From the moment I saw it I wanted it for myself. Or to find one like it at least. Was he offering it to me? I make the hand sign for a flying object and glide it through the air in front of me hopefully. Paraglider didn't really have a word in the Hylian Sign Language but this was close and understood. 

"Oho! Piqued your interest, have I? Yes, I didn't come soaring down here on my own feathery wings you know!"

I narrow my eyes at him to show my displeasure with his snark, I was mute not blind nor stupid. I saw very clearly what he had used. 

"Worry not- I will happily agree to give you my paraglider. But not for nothing."

I quickly grab my bag and start pulling out items in it to offer him, I don't know what exactly he could want but this is all I have. 

He shakes his head at me and I start putting the items back in. "Let's see, how about I trade it for a bit of treasure that slumbers nearby? Come. Let me show you something."

Instantly I believe that this is most likely another test. I seem to have gone through several since I awoke yesterday and I am starting to become a bit frustrated by them. But I need that paraglider so I nod and turn to follow him. We don't go far just to the top of a small hill we were literally standing next to. Convenient. I stand beside him and look out at the landscape. Immediately I realize what he must mean. A structure off in the distance, but really rather close by compared to the other journeys I have gone on. It's glowing orange in a swirl pattern, One that I have a feeling I am going to become very familiar with. I didn't remember seeing it before so this structure must have risen from the ground at the same time that the tower did. It's very peculiar. Almost as if all of this was singularly tailored to me. But that doesn't make sense. How could such an elaborate setup have ended up here like this, all for me? I imagine these towers and buildings must have been more commonly in use before the fall. But when the beast won someone must have used an extraordinary amount of magic to hide them until my sheikah slate activated them. 

"Do you see that structure there? The one shining with a strange light?"

I slowly turn to look at him cocking an eyebrow and rolling my eyes. It's clearly the most noticeable thing on the horizon. What else would I be looking at. I think that my meaning is clear even without any true words. He chuckles a bit as if knowing what an obvious and silly statement he has made. 

"It began glowing at the exact moment those towers rose up from the ground."

I blink a bit turning back to look at them contemplating that. This insinuates I was wrong about them emerging from the ground with the towers. They were already there I simply didn't notice them because it wasn't glowing. I must have simply assumed it was just another rock. 

"I would think such a place might house some sort of treasure, wouldn't you? Treasure for the paraglider. A fair exchange, I believe." He then falls silent continuing to gaze out at the structure. I frown a bit. Definitely some other sort of quest. I sigh a bit but nod glancing up at the sun. It has now begun its descent across the sky. If I hurry I can make it to the shrine by nightfall and leave the odd structure for tomorrow. But it's so close, if I attempted this test today, maybe I can simply sleep inside of it? It appears to have a similar locking mechanism that my shrine does. Should be safe enough to sleep in. So I head down the hill and towards my next mission.


	6. Turns out I am Pretty Awesome

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a little something to let me know you are reading and enjoying this. Thanks!

So I head down to the structure, it takes a little while but it is super easy to see so I don't lose my way. There are a few of the odd creatures along the way and I meant to ask the old man about them but I will just have to when I get back to him. They are easily defeated. I also find several schools of fish which pleases me since I can make food out of these later if I can catch them. But not yet I still have some meat and some apples and mushrooms in my bag. Enough for maybe two more meals. So until tomorrow morning I should be good. The sun hasn't moved much but I am pretty sweaty when I finally make it to the building. It has a weird platform with a circle pattern etched onto it. A familiar looking pedestal also sits close to the etched circle. Easy enough. Place the sheikah on the pedestal and watch the magic happen. Before beginning I refill my water skin from a small clear pond that sits right by the structure and drink plenty of water to quench my thirst. I try to be careful though, out here I can just pee whenever I need to but inside there I may not have options to relieve myself. Since I'm not sure I go ahead and take a leak as well close by, but not into the pond I don't want to contaminate my drinking water. When I feel good and ready I step up onto the platform and pull out the sheikah slate which starts to beep as I slide it into its spot. 

"Sheikah slate authenticated." The automated voice from the slate or pedestal no longer scares me. Then I see the etched circle go from a normal dull brown color to the same glowing blue color from other locations. What's special about the circle? "Travel gate activated. Registered to map" I blink a bit in alarm, travel gate activated? What did that mean? What was a travel gate? I guess I would need to look at the map. "Access granted." Just like I thought they would the doors slowly open and I can see another glowing blue circle inside. I can also see the structure has turned blue as well except for the very top. How odd. 

I have a choice now. Go in and face the proverbial music or check the map and investigate what it means by travel gate. I already know what I am going to do. I don't even know why I am questioning it. I settle down and pull up the map. I see my location arrow and zoom in on it. It reads Oman Au shrine beside a diamond shape that is blue with orange inside or it. The marker for this building. So it is also a shrine? That's pretty interesting honestly. I wonder how many shrines there are in the world and who exactly they are devoted to. When I click on the icon a pop up appears reading 'teleport to this location?' Teleport! Teleport? I can teleport? With the aid of the sheikah? No freaking way. This has got to be a joke. I click on the pop up and it pops up with a confirmation asking if I really want to. I click yes of course then a flash of red across the screen and an error message. 'User: Link is already at the requested location. Please choose another travel gate.' I frown a bit. Somehow the slate knows who I am. It also delegated me as a user, could others use this slab if they had the energy or ability to? Where would another travel gate be? Curiously I click on the tower icon and a travel option appears there as well. Fascinating. I decline and click on the icon for the shrine of resurrection instead. The travel option also appears there. This excites me. I feel safe in that shrine and the thought of just being able to return somehow makes me feel safer out in this world. However I still don't know if it will work or how it works or anything like that. I am more than willing to find out however. I click through the confirmations and this time I don't get an error message. Awesome. However a new message appears. 'Please ensure all items all attached to the user's body. Keep arms and legs close to the body and it is suggested the user closes their eyes for comfort. If the user is a beginner in the arcane arts only one teleportation per day is suggested. Make sure the user knows their limits. Keep food on hand. Potential side effects include ravenous hunger and loss of time. Does the user still wish to teleport?' 

I don't even hesitate as I mash the confirm button holding everything on my back or in my bag. I expect it to be a very uncomfortable sensation, instead I am surrounded by blue light, of course I keep my eyes open and I feel myself being pulled tightly maybe stretched thin. An overwhelming array of colors starts to fly by me and eventually I get dizzy and close my eyes. I can feel the energy being drawn from me but not as much as I expected. I am deposited on another etched glowing blue circle that I hadn't noticed before. I am also ravenous. I quickly fish some food out of my bag and head for the exit to peer outside. I notice that the sun is now very low. I can't believe that it had actually worked. I am getting excited over the implications of this. I wish that I understood how it worked but I am still pleased. I go ahead and lock the doors intending to get a good night's sleep before I head back to the other shrine. I still want the paraglider, and I still seem to need it. But this way of travel seems like it will become a quick favorite. 

The next day finds me back outside of the Oman Au shrine after a good rest and light breakfast I feel ready to fight the whole world. I know where food sources are and I don't have to travel crazy distances, I can simply teleport to safe places and dry places and high places. This really just absolutely thrills me. The more I learn about what I am tasked with the more nervous I become but with these things aiding me I feel a bit more confident. I head past the now open doors and find myself standing on another blue etched circle with no door to actually get inside. What? Is this more teleportation? How do I do it? 

"Please confirm the individual's desire to enter the shrine. Please say yes or no." 

I stand there a moment longer processing and frustration builds in my chest as I purse my lips. I can't speak. I try for a moment moving my mouth and shaking my hands in the yes hand sign. Nothing seems to be working. I can't talk. I'm mute. How was I supposed to get in? My sheikah slate starts to rapidly beep and I pull it out, there is a notification taking up most of the screen, it just says yes on one side and no on the other. I click yes and look up hopefully. The blue light starts to form around me and I close my eyes before it begins this time. However instead of teleportation the ground simply starts to shake and the platform slides downward through some sort of tube before stopping and I exit a hole in the tube into a peculiar room. It seems safe enough. I don't see any monsters in the area so that's a good sign. There is a pedestal with the downward cone shape like the tower over in the corner and great big bars blocking off part of the room. There are also huge metal slabs on the ground. No good looking place to sleep though so I'm glad I had gone back to my tub. So it seems obvious I should head to the pedestal first so that's where I head setting the sheikah on it as is becoming the standard. 

"Sheikah slate authenticated, distilling teaching rune..."

The same blue gathering of magic forms on the cone and drops onto the slate before settling down. The slate beeps and I pick it up, glancing at the screen where there is a new icon on the screen near the map, labeled magnesis. Curiously I click on it and it seems to be a manual for learning how to use your mana or magic to create a magnetic pole and move metal objects. That is so awesome. I quickly start studying it in an attempt to learn about this new ability I may be able to use. The sheikah slate seems to be able to be used as some sort of channeling conduit to direct my natural energy. I am reminded of the sticks that wizards always have in story books that they use to direct their own magics. My sheikah slate was a bit like a wand. I grin and continue studying before I start practicing on the slabs. It takes what I imagine to be several hours before I am able to lift the large metal slab. I am ridiculously pleased with myself and sweating profusely. I consider taking a bath in one of the ponds but I would rather bathe in a small running stream. To keep the water clean. I set it back down and slowly look around. Surely that wasn't the only goal. I was supposed to use this new ability to find some hidden treasure. That's when I remember that the metal slab had been covering a pit so I lift it and move it to the side before jumping down into the pit. It isn't far but once I'm down there I see a ladder I could have climbed down instead. Oh well. I head up some stairs and find myself on the other side of the bars. There are some stone blocks with a metal one in the middle. I gather my energy and slowly pull it out and start knocking the blocks out of the way so I can continue. I'm still holding the metal block when I spot it, a spindly creature! And this one is very alive! And coming at me! Oh my Hylia an arm just appeared out of its side and is holding some sort of weapon! What the hell! It's coming for me! In a panic I fling the metal block at the creature, it's much smaller than the giant dead ones outside near the temple but still terrifying! When I calm down I realize that the metal block had made contact and the creature had come apart in some electric shocks and was just laying there in a pile destroyed. Taking a deep breath I edge around it. What the hell was it doing inside of my supposedly safe shrine. I would never feel safe again. I know my mind is being dramatic but I'm in a bit of a shock. I also seem to know who the shrines are worshiping now. Hylia? The Goddess. Was the whole kingdom named after her? I seem to know suddenly that the large statue of a woman in the temple of time is Hylia. After I calm down I see that part of the area is a pond. With slabs in the middle like little islands. Obviously I need the metal slabs to make a bridge for this section. But for now a rest. I climb the ladder and scoop up some water to cool myself off. I won't drink it, who knows how long it has been here. At least a hundred years. Should have evaporated by now or something. It's really weird, this whole place is. It seems like it hasn't been touched by anyone ever. Perfectly pristine and still in working order. Maybe this was a training ground for people like me to learn how to use their abilities? Surely it can't just be for my sake. 

I climb back up and start to head back for the slab returning to form my bridge and head over it. Next are what look like giant metal doors. I open those as well. If this is some sort of trial to teach me how to use my new abilities, well it definitely worked. I feel like a master, though I probably still have a lot to learn honestly. I step through the doors and halt suspiciously. There is a glowing blue box with what looks like a body sitting up inside of it. It's too still to be a living human. I want to leave. Screw the dead dude, screw the treasure, and forget the paraglider. I will figure something else out. But my core screams at me to stop being a coward so I head forward towards the stairs leading to the box and gently reach out to brush against the magic. Of course it shatters. The stupid thing shatters and dissipates leaving me face to face what I can only describe as a corpse. Okay. Okay okay okay. I take a deep breath when I hear the voice, a feminine voice but not like the one before though it is in my head. 

"You have proven to possess the resolve of a true hero. I am Oman Au. The creator of this trial. I am a humble monk blessed with the sight of the Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat Ganon. With your arrival, my duty is now fulfilled. In the name of the goddess Hylia I bestow this gift upon you... please accept this spirit orb." A small purple orb floats down to me and I take it carefully. It feels like glass and it is overflowing with magic. It's amazing. I carefully set it in my bag. This must be the treasure that I was out here looking for "may the goddess smile upon you." I look back up at the monk and I feel the blood drain from my face as it slowly turns to dust and just floats away. Okay. Okay okay okay. So this dude created a trial 100 years ago or more and trained people in this form of magic and then what? When ganon won he died but his spirit stayed here waiting for me or something? I really wish someone would just tell me what is going on. 

After a few moments I slowly make my way out of the shrine taking a deep breath. I wonder if I have enough energy to head back to the shrine I am rapidly coming to think of as home. But upon my exit what do I hear? 

"Woah hoah!" The old man is gliding down to me on his paraglider, show off. He lands in front of me and I wave reaching for the orb. 

"It seems you managed to get your hands on a spirit orb! Well done!"

I frown pausing 'how did you know? I haven't showed it to you.' I cross my arms when I am done signing hoping he understands how suspicious of him I am. 

"Clairvoyance! Oho, or perhaps just something similar. As one gets older, it can become more difficult to see what is right before one's own eyes... However, that which was once hidden from view can often be crystal clear. But perhaps that is not true for everyone! Oho ho! The appearance of those towers and the awakening of this shrine... it's all connected to that sheikah slate you carry on your hip there."

'What do you mean?' I am hoping he will really tell me what is going on now and what he really knows, maybe even who he is. 

"It has been quite some time since I have seen that sheikah slate... long ago a highly advanced tribe known as the Sheikah inhabited these lands. The great power of their wisdom saved this kingdom time and time again. But their ancient technology disappeared long ago... or so it is said. It is interesting, however, to think... how something like that survived all this time, hidden away in a shrine. Even just a hundred years ago the great Plateau was a training ground for young men and women who had the ability to manipulate energies of the world that others could not. The sheikah slate was an invention to help them channel that energy and record the world around them. There was a barrack where they would stay and then they would travel to shrines which were tucked away in numerous places all across the land. On this plateau alone, I believe there are still three more. These four here on the plateau were to train in the basics before the young disciples moved on to the shrines in the rest of the world. Each one of them did amazing things. Each shrine was overseen by a monk, when Ganon came, they elected to stay here in their spirits to guide a promised hero. They were supposedly asked this by the goddess Hylia herself. Bring me the treasure from each of those shrines... and I will give you my paraglider."

My teeth grind together and I take a deep breath. 'That wasn't the deal'

"Oh? Well, I suppose I changed my mind. I'm sure that won't be a problem for a young go getter like you! Since I'm feeling generous. I will also teach you a trick for finding shrines. It's always best to survey the area by looking around from a high point. Let's see here. How about you make your way to the top of that tower again?"

I raise one of my hands to my mouth in a quick twisting motion with my finger against my cheek. In my mind it reads as 'seriously?' But I know it is more often read by Hylian speakers as 'are you joking?' 

"Oho ho! I am afraid not. But do not worry! I have another little trick to share with you for your effort. Take a look at the map on your sheikah slate. See those blue icons? You should recognize the cave where you woke, the shrine you came from, and the tower. You can travel instantly to any of those places with the sheikah slate. Or so I heard quite some time ago... I do not know if it actually works as such. " 

He has turned from me now and is slowly walking away. I want to tell him I already figured all of that out on my own. Oh well. I may as well give it a shot and see if I can use it twice in one day. When I arrive at the top of the tower I am even hungrier and I remember I haven't eaten since before I underwent the trial. I turn and to my horror and surprise he is standing right beside me! On top of the tower! How in the world did he get up here. I try to ask but he starts talking, 

"Well you certainly took your time. Did you forget how to travel instantly. Oho ho. Just a joke I saw you appear here. Now then... I wanted you to join me up here so you could use this as a vantage point to search for shrines. Did you know about the scope on your sheikah slate? Look through it and you can stick a pin wherever you'd like to mark on the map. The pins on the map serve as reference points for your travels. Just stick a pin anywhere you're interested in!"

I manage to interrupt him now, 'How do you know?' 

"Oho ho! Just a few tricks I've picked up after many, many years in the wild... you may take my advice or leave it. Go ahead and take a look if you feel inclined to." 

I try to tell him that I already figured all of this out. That I know it all already and can he please answer my actual questions but he has flung himself off the side of the tower and paraglides down far away from me. I sigh. This was a wasted trip. But I do as instructed and to my pleasure I actually see all three of the glowing orange shrines from the scope and am able to mark them on my map to help me find them once I'm on the ground. I am decently satisfied with this. But now I need to climb down the tower or risk trying the teleportation again. The slate says I'm not supposed to. But I'm tired and don't want to climb and I'm hungry I want some fish. I want to get down and hunt and head back to my home shrine and rest for the night so that I can start out nice and refreshed tomorrow. Maybe though... I slowly slide down to the ground exactly where I am. I guess I could just sleep here and worry about everything else tomorrow. Before I can formulate a plan I am fast asleep.


	7. Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and let me know what you think!

When I wake up, several things feel very wrong. I'm starving still, my body expressing displeasure, and it's far to bright. The past days I woke up to the soft blue light of my home shrine. This was not so great. My body aches all over and I'm cold. I don't even remember falling asleep here. I suppose that is the problem with teleporting twice in one day. If you don't have the energy to add whatever fuel you need to add, this happens. I assume if you do it to much then you can die. That's what it feels like, like I'm dying. I sit up and start stretching trying to work out the injuries to my back and so on. I don't really do a good job though I feel a little bit better. I am mostly just annoyed. I do know the locations of the other shrines but I had a bad night's sleep, I still need to climb all the way down this tower, and I am absolutely starving. I don't know what my first action should be. Should I climb down? Or should I waste my one teleportation to get down? Do I even have enough energy to do either? I exhausted my food supply yesterday. I can only carry so much of it after all. If I am careful I might be able to carefully climb down and scavenge for some fruit in the area or try to catch a fish. 

I know one thing, I will not be teleporting twice in one day ever again. Or if I do it will be with far more consideration than I had done before. Heading over to the only hole on the tower platform I look down at the ladder like structure once more. I begin to make my way down and wonder just how many towers there are and how often I am going to have to do this. The mini platforms provide a well needed rest in my current state that I am more grateful for than I would like to admit. Starving and hurting I don't feel refreshed like I should after sleeping all the way through the night hours. 

Once I finally land I start to scavenge, I feel ridiculously lucky that it is apple season. They are decently easy to find and I wonder if this whole area had been a huge orchard so that the disciples training here could easily find food while learning to harness their abilities. I consider trying to catch a fish once I find a pond that has some in there but the only way I know how to would be to try and shoot it with one of my precious few arrows or to grab wildly with my hands. The memory of the taste of grilled fish overwhelms me and I want it so badly. I know I need to take care however and so I turn away and gather more fruit. No meat for me today for now. I need another plan. Should I take the day off and rest? Go back to my shrine? Or plow ahead to the shrine that was closest to here on the other side of the tower? It didn't seem to far away. Maybe a few hours and the day is very young. But I'm not sure if I have the energy to handle it. I decide to teleport back to the shrine to get a good night rest. My home shrine that is. I will also collect as many supplies as I can to take back with me so that I have a stash. I hope the apples I have eaten will give me enough energy to handle that. I return to the Shrine where I learned magnesis and begin scouring the area for supplies. I gather as many apples as my bag can hold and then start gathering weapons from enemies I defeated yesterday piling them in one spot so I can try to carry as many as possible back to my base for backups just in case. Also to maybe keep them out of the hands of other creatures that may appear. If this is some sort of elaborate weird test I wasn't going to make it easier for them to get me. If it wasn't... well I was still kind of hoping this was some sort of game to be honest.

During these searches the sun climbs higher and higher until it is high above and I am sweating. I'm also getting ravenous again and am preparing to eat another apple when I see them. A bird's nest, high up in that tree. Does apple season mean mating season? Could there be eggs up there? I don't know the answer to either of those questions but I would really like to find out. So I climb up and am overjoyed to discover five eggs. I send a prayer to Hylia the goddess statue from the temple in gratitude. These will be filling and help with restoring my energy. They should make two meals or up to five if I am very careful. I take the whole nest apologizing in my mind to the poor birds who are losing both resting place and offspring in one go. I have no choice however. I need to survive. Starving and with no access to a campfire, I simply crack open one of them and slurp it down once I am safely on the ground. It's disgusting that way and slimy. I should definitely try to cook it next time, but with my limited resources, honestly I am just happy to have it. I carefully tuck the rest into my bag with the nest. No more room for apples now. I wander around trying to decide where I am going to go from here. The new shrine? Back to base? More supplies? Before I know it I've just been exploring and the sun is halfway down in the sky. Well back to base then. 

Gathering my gear and securing it I slowly prepare for the teleportation. I've seen no odd creatures today which I feel grateful for. I still never got a chance to ask what they were. I land back in the shrine of resurrection and quickly relax. This was good, this was nice. A safe calm room where I could stretch out and rest and be prepared for the trials that I was surely going to face tomorrow. I organize my collected supplies into the two rusty trunks that are outside of the first room. What doesn't fit because of length or bulk gets leaned against the wall. I eat a few more apples while I rest playing on the Sheikah slate. It's a fascinating device, I discover I can use the magnesis on the chests and the weapons with metal on them. That might be useful in the future. The map has lots of available markers to help me navigate on my own. I can also create my own which pleases me immensely. There is a note section where I can write things on a keyboard that pops up. This is also disgustingly pleasing. It solves several issues for me. First, I want to write down my experiences which I start doing immediately, I'm sure you know this though since you are reading it. Second, I can use this to communicate with people who don't use HSL like I do, Hylian Sign Language. The complex hand signs that I use to speak my words. I instinctively know that most people won't understand this. So I will be able to use this notepad section to write to them in emergencies. I will try to find paper and quills first however. That would be the best I'm not sure how common these slates are or if many people have ever seen them and I don't want to constantly answer questions about it. Especially since I don't have any of the answers. I am satisfied with my plan for quite a while and I focus on writing up my experiences until this point. Who knows maybe they are going to end up being important one day. Probably if I really am some hero from 100 years ago who was resurrected in this shrine because I died fighting Ganon, probably saving some princess or other royal family members in the process. Or something else equally dramatic. I snort a little bit in amusement. This probably wasn't a real occurrence. I was probably just really high this whole time and would eventually wake up. Well no I've started to accept this is real even if I wish it wasn't. It's hard to have no memory of how you got here or how you learned the things you know. 

I finish writing for the night and tuck everything safely away finishing up an apple as I get ready for bed. I keep a sword near just in case as I lay down for rest. I'm closing my eyes when a previously unconsidered thought occurs to me. What if the language I write in is archaic? I've been asleep for 100 years! What if no one understands me! What if there is no replacement written language and nobody can read or write at all? What am I going to do then? How am I going to communicate out here? I try to speak again, but I know it won't work. Of course it doesn't and I grind my teeth trying to think of some solution to this problem. None is immediately forthcoming and I fall into a restless sleep plagued by nightmares that I would not remember come morning.


	8. The Gaurdian

When I wake the next morning I'm not as rested as I would like but it's decent enough. I feel like something disturbed my sleep but nothing comes to mind just a vague feeling of unease. I have a breakfast of apples and an egg from the nest. I need to head out to the shrine from here. The new one. I am excited about potentially learning a new ability and a little annoyed at myself for wasting all of yesterday just because of my stubbornness. I check the map and decide I can probably just walk to it from here though teleporting to the tower would be easier and quicker since it seemed closer. But I want to save my teleportation for later in the day so that I can easily get back to my shrine by nightfall so that I can sleep. I wonder if the monks In the other shrines had bedrooms hidden in there somewhere, before they passed on. Or if they were all able to teleport and went back to the so called barracks every night? I wonder if the barracks were the old buildings around the temple of time which I had found a few old broken chests in. Including the chest with the pants that I currently had on now. Were these some dead monks or disciples pants? Well no use in worrying over it now. They were better than the older ones and I wish that I had a different shirt as well. I remember that I had abandoned my old pants back at that chest and wonder if I should grab them again and maybe bring them back to my shrine. Just in case? I will think more on it. I will pass that area on my way down anyway so I have until then. 

I start my journey for the day and cross the first campfire where I had seen the old man. The fire is out now of course but the sticks that didn't burn all the way and the ring of stones are still there. A safe fire pit. Dig a hole, ring with stone, clear debris, set fire on firewood. Nice and easy. I wish it was lit so I could cook one of my eggs to eat warm. That would be a real treat. But I need to save them for later. I only have three left. I also don't have an easy way to start a fire. No flint, and no time for some of the longer more basic ways of starting a fire. I kind of hope that there is a simple way to start a fire like one of those abilities similar to magnesis. That would be dead useful and a huge time saver. Only one way to find out what my next ability is though. Onward to the shrine. 

I make it to the temple with no issue before I have to start pulling the map out to start properly navigating the area. If I remember correctly the shrine was surrounded by walls just big enough to block it from sight if I was on the ground. I follow the marking past the skull encampment that I fought against the other day, it's right on the way to this other shrine and I had no idea at the time. I luck out and locate a few more bird eggs but I also smash one when I am suddenly attacked by a blue blob shaped creature. It's harder to fight because my sword almost bounces off of it. But I am victorious in the end. I am now up to five eggs again and am pleased with this. I also refilled my stash of apples and find a few more mushrooms along the way. Luckily none of those items are very heavy. I am pleased to note that it seems that I should be able to get there far before noon and maybe even complete the shrine long before dark, I could walk all the way back to my shrine if I am successful instead of teleporting! I don't actually know if I will be successful however. But I'm hopeful! I enjoy the quickness of teleporting but I should probably try to save it for emergencies. If possible I will try to walk home but if it's too close to dark I will take the easy way out. If I get to walk I will grab those old pants on the way back to store back in the shrine. 

I finally arrive and see that it appears to be the ruins of another temple perhaps. More complicated in patterns than the basic structures outside the main temple and less complicated than the temple of time itself. It's in ruins of course, ruins litter the countryside everywhere I go. I see them so often that they don't really count as something I need to note or pay too much attention to most of the time. Obviously this is a bit different. Another difference is noticeable here. Those spindly creatures that I noticed at the temple of time, the big ones with the etchings, the dead ones, are all over this place. They don't look anything like the tiny differently shaped one from inside the first shrine I completed. I feel confident in stepping up to them this time and properly examining them. Some sort of amazing archaic structures. I really am impressed by them even as I am terrified at the same time. I walk in through the curved entryway that is still standing on the grounds. I spot four of the strange creatures in the area and I am immediately grateful that they are not something that I have to bother fighting. They look as if they were extremely dangerous at one point in time. Walking through I feel pretty confident, at the back there's another archway but it seems to be caved in by Rubble according to the map that's where the shrine is. That's when it happens. One of the creatures comes to life, the top of it seems to pop up from the bottom half of the body, the spindly legs however are still encased in the ground so it does not appear to move. The middle section that is revealed when the top pops off starts to glow blue and the rest of the body start to glow a pink-ish red. I'm starting to freak out. I have no idea what to do or how to fight one of these things it doesn't look to me as if my sword is going to do much damage to one of these huge hulking metal creatures. I immediately duck behind one of the other creatures there that is not moving. Watching it from around the corner I see the creature shoot a devastating laser beam at where I was just standing, I gulp, that... would have hurt, if not outright killed me. okay deep breaths. don't panic. It doesn't seem to be able to spot me behind this. It shoots off a few more lasers before going dormant again. I stay there behind my impromptu guardian and remind myself to take deep breaths, let's think about this. Okay, so they aren't all dead. Fantastic. Okay. Okay. I need a new plan. I stay there for a significant amount of time thinking over my resources and abilities. 

Eventually an idea comes to me. It is insane but it might just work. Quickly I unhook my shield and sprint out to the middle of the area where it can see me and as the creature loads up I dig the shield into the ground and hunker down behind it. I hear the laser preparing to fire and I tug my magic or energy or whatever it really is out of my body like when i'm powering up the sheikah slate and shove it into the shield and curving the energy a bit, at least in my mind, I hope it does the same. The laser shoots off and hits the shield. I am blown backwards and my shield shatters. I seem to be mostly okay though a bit dazed. Covered in bruises and cuts. I stand, ready to run for cover if needed but the creatures has blown itself up with it's own reflected laser. The lights are gone and all that's left is smoke. I take a deep breath. Thank the goddess. It was dumb luck, or maybe instinct. Maybe I had fought these creatures before and the ability simply returned to me. I hope I never run into one again. 

I know my luck isn't that good.


	9. Ja Baji

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys! A little bit of a short chapter! Please if you are reading drop a comment to let me know you are here. This is the halfway point for the Great Plateau!

I need a break, I really do. But the map says that the shrine is right behind that rubble. I'm stressed and freaking out a little bit about everything that just happened. I need to keep moving. That's the only real way to handle this situation. With a quick nod of my head I turn and start searching for another way into that area. Instead of finding one I run into another one of those live creatures. The glowing starts and I throw myself back around the corner. Once I've calmed down I repeat the same process from before and am grateful to discover that it still works. I'm not sure why I was worried that it wouldn't have worked all of a sudden. But even though I have dispatched this one now, thank goodness I had been carrying around a second one of those shields from the red creatures, there is still no entrance. That's fine. I return to the rubble filled archway. This would be so easy to climb to the top even if I didn't apparently have some sort of climbing gift. 

Up I go onto the top of the wall and there it is, this area must have been built with this shrine right in the middle. An interesting set up honestly. Though I don't know why it would be so different from the one just sitting out in the open. I climb down and victoriously head over to the etched platform. I've fought off two bizarre glowing creatures today, I can handle anything this silly shrine throws at me. This time I confidently pass the slate over the pedestal and the light quickly changes from orange to blue. This one does not speak to me and I am grateful for I don't really know how to handle it when they do. Of course once I'm standing on the elevator type structure I am asked to confirm and I use the sheikah slate to do so again. 

Once I arrive in the underground room I see it is just as clean and kept up as the last shrine that I went to. This time however there are rocks blocking my path forward from floor to ceiling so that I can't just climb over the obstacle. I know now this is a trial to teach me how to use my new abilities and so I quickly head over to the pedestal inside to see what I will be learning. A voice welcomes me to the Ja Baij shrine as I head over to it. I wonder if it was always like that or if that is a new addition for me now that the monk is technically dead. It's a lot of pressure to be honest, these souls are sitting here waiting for me to free them. They can only be free once I am gifted their residual spirit magic and complete their trial. What if I'm not good enough to complete a trial at some point later on? Will there be some other way to free the soul? Well that's a problem for another time and place. 

I set the slate onto this pedestal and wait. "Sheikah slate authenticated. Distilling rune..." I watch as the magic gathers through the downward cone and drops onto the slate. "Remote bomb ability activated. A bomb that can be activated remotely. Please ensure safe distance before detonating. At least twenty feet. The force of the blast can be used to damage monsters or destroy objects. User has the ability to use both round and cube bombs. Please use whichever is more appropriate for the situation."

Fascinated I remove the slate and begin to examine the instructions for the newest ability. Bombs! I get to run around and blow shit up! That's fantastic! A rolling bomb I can drop down a hill or one I can plant in hiding and wait for a creature to pass. Who doesn't want the destructive capabilities of a bomb literally at their fingertips? I start to practice making the bomb, I do have to wait a little between each attempt but eventually I have successfully made them and start practicing with detonation. I run all around this main room trying to figure it out and I wear myself out a bit. After what feels like quite a while I decide that I have properly gotten the hang of it. I snack on an apple to replenish my energy before I set a bomb down beside the rock blockade and flee back against the other wall before detonating it. The resounding explosion is the most satisfying one that I have heard so far today because the sound of the rocks crashing around it is there as well. Once I think the area is stable again I move forward to climb over the rubble and turn to the right down the hall behind it. There are more of the rock blockades and I swiftly dispose of them. Behind one of them I find what must have been a small armory. Several weapons are now no longer useable but some are still in decent shape. I test them out and switch out my beat up sword for the nicest one there. I hang mine up in the spot I took the new one from, just in case. Then I head back to the left and dispose of the wall of rock there as well. Behind that is a ladder. I adjust my supplies before quickly heading up the ladder. I am getting hungry again. 

I am cautious as I turn every corner looking for one of those creatures like I fought in my last trial. But there seems to be none of them here. Thank goodness. This section has a much larger rock blockade and I wonder how these puzzles were put back together after every disciple passed through. Maybe the disciple helped to reconstruct them? I look over the pit in the floor, there is a moving platform crossing the space pausing at each edge of the pit for a brief few seconds. I see what I am supposed to do. I drop a bomb on the platform and wait off the far side while it travels to the blockade. I detonate it and watch the rock crumble. I have to do this twice before I think it can be reasonably passed before I get on the floating platform and move over on my own. I climb over the rubble again and appear to be in the last room. I can see the glowing blue see through box in the distance where I know the monk is waiting. I observe the room. There are many rock columns that appear to be shooting up into the air before rapidly pulling themselves back down and repeating this process. My mind supplies the idea of a canon. This is further intensified when I notice one of the angled columns has a partner across a gap and they appear to be tossing a ball to and from each other. So, I put the bomb on the platform and shoot it over to the rock blockade in the distance an then detonate it there? Simple enough. Though I wonder what these were meant to teach the disciples surely something like this would never happen out in the world. I do as theorized and am please to watch the rock crumble. It reveals a ladder I can use to climb up onto that platform which leads straight back to the monk. Or... I can climb onto the canon rock and blast myself across the sky. Which honestly sounds like it would be an absolute blast. Haha. I'm so funny. Which is good because really the only person I have to amuse myself is... well... myself. However I know that it really isn't a good idea to do foolish things like that when I can't guarantee a safe landing on that pile of rubble so I descend into the pit using the stairs and head over to the ladder and up over the rubble. It is now a straight shot back to the monk. 

I walk back there slowly preparing myself to see the withered old corpse. It was very alarming to see after all. But eventually I am there staring at it and I decide to just get it over with touching the blue light screen and watching it shatter. Beautiful. 

"Your resourcefulness in overcoming this trial speaks to the promise of a hero... In the name of Goddess Hylia, I bestow upon you this Spirit Orb. May the Goddess forever smile upon you."

I take the orb and carefully tuck it into the bag beside the other before touching my flat hand, palm up, fingertips to my chin before bringing it down in a curved motion. 'Thank you' he doesn't understand me I am sure, perhaps doesn't even have the ability to do so anymore. But it makes me feel better about it anyway as I watch him slowly turn to dust and blow away in a wind that doesn't exist. I take another deep breath, I hope that he gets to rest in peace now. I make my way back to the main entrance and ride the platform back up. The day still has a few hours but I am emotionally exhausted and according to the map I am still very very far away from the next shrine. So I start my walk back up to the shrine of resurrection. On my way back I actually spot another one of the shrines. High up on a cliff side in the distance the orange glow an obvious give away as clouds cover the sun making it a little bit darker. It's crazy that I can see it but also have no conceivable way of getting to it. I need to study the map intensely tomorrow morning before I head out. It will probably end up being an overnight trip. 

I remember to pick up those old pants on the way back and store them in one of the chests back at home. Just in case I need them at some point in the future. Better safe than sorry right? I make it back and settle in for the night. I need the rest.


	10. Defeated by the Elements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, we are now over halfway there! Also, I started writing the sequel for the Duelling peaks, I don't have a proper name for it yet, and I am enjoying the sequel far more than I enjoyed writing the first one. This one was a bit of a struggle due to the isolation of the Plateau. But once he is out in the wide world with no inhibitors... wowee it's really kicked off I wrote 12k in one night! Let me know what you think of this chapter. Shout out to master_torch_master for being awesome!

I wake in high spirits the next day. I only have two more shrines to complete and then I will have that paraglider. I will be able to leave this training site and move on to the wide world and hopefully move closer to more answers about who I am. I get ready for the day planning on trying my hand at hunting a small animal for some proper meat. I slurp down another one of my eggs making a face at how slimy it is. I still haven't quite gotten used to it. I know some people find it to be a delicacy but I guess that person really isn't me. 

Once I've finished up I head back outside. I was going to save my teleportation for tonight again. The map shows a good distance between me and the shrine, I may even have to stay out overnight since I can't just go back home without activating the travel gate or I would just be wasting my time and starting all the way back over. I head towards the temple carefully picking my way down as I examine the map. According to the elevation markers it looked as if the next two shrines were both around a mountain. I will be doing some climbing. Once more I felt grateful for my gift. I wonder how many other people here have gifts in this world and what they were. It was apparently plenty common since things like the sheikah slate exist and this was a training ground for people with abilities. So the knowledge of my own gifts don't make me feel special or any different and I am actually very interested to know what else is out in this world. I am sure it is filled with marvelous wonders of beauty and magic. Another reason I am eager to get off of this Great Plateau. I continue to navigate not running into any trouble, I've already cleared this area of any creatures. As I start climbing elevation wise, there are no real pathways up here just sloping upwards plains, I realize that it is starting to get colder. It doesn't really bother me at first but then I am starting to shiver. I turn back around and head down a ways till I'm sheltered and a bit more in the sun before examining the map. I try several pathways but as the day goes on the air gets colder and colder each time I make an attempt on what seems to be the closest shrine, the one I could spot on my way back from Ja Baji. It's well after noon when I spot the storm moving in, I think it will just be rain so I keep attempting the climb. But just like always it just gets to cold for my hands and my face, my body isn't so bad being a bit covered up but my hands are slowly turning blue and I'm not dumb enough to just persevere through and die out in the cold because of frostbite or something. Then I see the snow. The storm is overhead now and instead of dropping rain, it's snowing. I realize that I've already been trying to brave below freezing weather and decide to turn around for good for today. I need another plan. I start heading back down the mountain. Once I'm on more level ground I pull the map back out, both shrines are past the top of mount Hylia. I really don't see a feasible way to get through this area. I also don't really understand why the temperature differences were so extreme. I'm slowly starting to warm up now though. Maybe it's some sort of energy here? Maybe that's just how it is in this world? I pause for a moment coming to a complete standstill. This world? What does that mean? Why did I think of it like that? It doesn't really make any sense. The way that thought was formatted implied that this wasn't the only world my mind had knowledge about. I feel frustration as I run a hand through my hair promptly messing it up. I need to know more about myself. How did I become who I am? What developed my personality? What do I know about things that probably shouldn't be common knowledge to people? Like the possibility of the existence of other worlds that may exist on a different physics scale than ours? This isn't the time or place to be sitting here worrying about it. I will head back home and rest up for the night, then head out again tomorrow. On the map it shows what appears to be a forest, if I go through the forest and around the back side of the mountain, there is a large body of water separating me from the shrine that way, but it doesn't take me through such high elevation. That however looks like it might be a two or three day trip before I make it to the next shrine. The day had started out so good today too. I need to make sure that I prepare. I really need a way to make fire too. If I had something to keep me warm all of this would have been much easier to handle. I glance up and my stomach drops. The sun is getting really low. Even if I hurry I don't think I will make it back home before dark fully hits. I start walking again, quicker, tucking the slate back into its spot. I had wasted too much time. 

I wish that I could remember exactly what it was that was frustrating me about having to stay out after dark. I just knew that it wouldn't be pleasant. Unfortunately, I am right. I am so close when it happens, it's been fully dark for a little while but luckily the moonlight and my constant traversing of this path make it easier to navigate despite the lack of light. The ground rumbles and I freeze. Was another tower erupting from the ground? No the rumbling wasn't quite that strong. I frown looking around and see the earth in a few spots seeming to shift and then erupt and a skeleton jumps out of the hole, and then another out of the other hole. My eyes widen and I take a step back fumbling for my weapon. They advance on me the bones clacking together. My heart is racing and my mind is in hyperdrive. Okay okay okay okay okay okay okay. I can handle this. I can. Okay okay okay. I'm getting attacked by skeletons with rusty weapons that are falling apart and look like they would cause some really nasty infection! I swing out with my sword and am grateful to see that upon contact the bones go flying all over the place. The skulls teeth are still chattering though. The skulls actually seem to have little horns on them. Are they the remains of the red creatures that I had destroyed previously? When that putrid black and red magic enveloped them is this what it did? Placed the remains underground to attack anyone who was out after dark? Has it always been this way? I wish I could remember. 

I knock the other skeleton down as well and take a deep breath thinking that is it. But it isn't of course the bones fly back together rebuilding the skeletons and for the first time since awakening, I truly fear for my life. How were you supposed to fight something that was already dead! When they killed me would I become a skeleton like them? Plaguing innocents who lost track of time? I knock them down again and this time the chattering is really getting on my nerves so I stab my sword as hard as I can through the top of the skull shattering it. To my pleasure the chattering stops. While I am completing this however the other bones reform, this time I have a full skeleton, and a headless skeleton coming at me. I groan and turn, do I need to shatter each and every bone individually to stop them? I would just start with the other skull because like I mentioned before, the chattering was really starting to piss me off. I repeat the process shattering the skull and turn to do the same to the others. To my surprise, the other bones just crumble to the ground and slowly turn to dust like the monks in the shrines. I stand there for a moment before I turn and start sprinting for home. It's so close. I'm so distressed that I don't realize that I have dropped the squirrel I had worked so hard to catch earlier in the day. I slide into the entrance and turn to lock the doors. Outside I see five more skeletons pop up from the ground. I lock the door. I can hear them scratching at it and this sends me fleeing back Into the second room locking it as well. That was crazy. I never wanted to be outside ever again. I pull the map out again. The pathway I had chosen that would take me several days to traverse seems to taunt me. I don't think I have any other choice. Doesn't look like I will be getting much sleep on this trip.. eventually I realize that my squirrel is gone and it's just another frustration piled on top of another ridiculous frustration. It seemed like such an easy task and I felt like I was so, so close to my goal. Now I am back to being what feels like millions of miles away from achieving the only true solid goal I have right now. 

I tell myself to stop wallowing. Yes sometimes things happen that are outside of our control. No it does not mean that it is the end of the world. I brighten up when I have an idea, those old pants I brought back? I could wear them under my new pants, it would provide a bit of extra insulation from the cold. Or maybe I could make some mittens out of them! Or not. I don't actually have any sewing supplies or anything like that which would actually help me reach a goal like that. I'm not even sure that I actually know how to sew. I feel like I should. The general concept of it is something that I am familiar with but I'm not actually sure that I have ever done it before. I think that I feel a bit better until I feel a tear hit my cheek. Then I am crying. I don't stop for quite a while. All of the stress and fear has just piled on top of me until I can't really seem to cope with it anymore without crying it out. Plus, if I think to hard I can still hear the undead scratching at the door. I pull myself up and get ready for bed, I keep my supplies leaning up against my bed this time and I hold my sword in my hand. I wouldn't be sleeping well but I would try. To my surprise, I sleep like the dead. 

When I wake I am feeling much better and more confident in myself. Today I am going to rest and think, prepare for my days long trip. Plenty of food, make sure I'm ready. I venture back out to go explore. I plan to go hunting again. To my surprise my squirrel is right where I left it. But I don't trust it anymore. The meat is probably bad. I apologize and bury the small creature. I feel horrible about killing the creature for no reason but nothing I can do about it. I wander back down to the temple and I can see the shrine, so close but so far away. There is no way I can climb up those sheer cliffs. I venture closer anyway just to look up at it, and walk straight into an enemy encampment with five of those odd red one horned creatures. Living ones. Jumping back up a bit I decide to use my bomb ability in tandem with my sword. It works rather well and I am pleased by the devastation it causes. I find more arrows once they are defeated. There is a fire roaring in the middle of the camp with a hog roasting over it. My mouth waters. What luck to have this happen to me twice in a row. Excitedly I tend to it until it is ready and start cutting it up into slices that I can carry with me. I won't have to hunt today after all, or figure out how to start a fire. It's a lot of meat for one person and I don't want to waste any or leave any behind. I eat as much of it as I can and pack the rest the best that I can. I end up with a heavy bag that is bursting to the full. My supply issues are briefly solved. However I also see a small cave and go to check it out and find green mushrooms growing there. Stamella shrooms! I know immediately that these mushrooms are one of the magical variants. A bite of one of these would give you as much energy as a full meal. I start to harvest them when the thought comes to me. Would I be able to use these to facilitate teleportation more than once a day? My big issue is that I am far to tired after completing one to attempt it again but these would restore my energy! 

I resolve to try it out and I take the string that my squirrel had been tied to my belt with yesterday and slowly make a hole through the stem of each mushroom with a small piece of wood that I've been using like a needle to make small holes. I string them up and tie them to my belt. My bad day yesterday feels almost completely behind me and my mind is filled with music, I can't sing and I'm not sure if I can properly hum, but my mind doesn't need to verbally hear it to enjoy the tune of my happiness. 

It is then, and only then that I find the true treasure of the day. I spot what I think are arrows against the back wall. The creatures must have been storing them here. I stride over the short distance to them and when I touch them, I tingle, energy shooting up from the arrow and into my body. The arrowheads have etchings on them like the fire arrows. But different. Like the fire arrows! I stand there dumbfounded. I had been stressing over heat and warmth and fire. I also had five beautiful magic fire arrows in my quiver right now. I berate myself temporarily for my stupidity. I had simply forgotten about them. A completely human thing to do. But still. I turn my attention back to the arrows in my hands. Bomb arrows, my mind helpfully supplies. When utilized properly they will explode when they make contact with the target. Wow! I tuck them into my quiver and turn back out of the small cave. I hear a peculiar sound like the wind ripping across the plains at high velocity. But there is no wind here at all at the moment. I realize that the sound is coming from me! I am whistling. This pleases me far more than I can admit, and I whistle the rest of the way home.

When I pass the campfire near my home I consider lighting it, but that seems oddly silly and a waste of energy. I don't actually have anything to use it for. Once I am inside and all of my doors are locked, I rearrange all of my supplies, I prioritize the protein high food like the meat and eggs, I can't wait to eat one on my trip that I have cooked. Then I put the apples that will fit nicely into the bag on top before tying my string of mushrooms to the strap of the bag. All of the food in one place. I pick out the best bow, sword, and shield I have to take with me. I won't have time to return. I also double up my pants sliding them on so I don't have to worry about carrying them. When I finally settle in for the night I feel confident in my skills and in the trip that I will be taking. I have all the supplies I will need. I even have a rough plan to deal with the undead. If I can find a tree big enough I can sleep in one of them. Or if that doesn't work, just make the trip through the night as well. It would go quicker that way. I doze off dreaming of the stamella shrooms making me glow brightly with energy as I laugh maniacally teleporting between the activated travel gates in quick succession.


	11. Campfire Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a pretty cool thing happened to me today. My wife took me to dinner and our server was named Link! He said it was a family name! It was pretty neat. Don't forget to tell me what you think about this chapter!

The next morning I head out to follow the path I had drawn out on the map previously. Down past the temple and towards the forest area on my map. A forest would be a good place to forage as well. Who knows what sort of amazing things I am going to see or find out here today. I have all of my gear already and I feel decently confident again. I enter into the wooded area after a few hours and after a few fights and a few more mushrooms scavenged. 

When I do enter I see a smoke signal. Like from a campfire. I wonder if the old man is sitting out here by a fire like before or if this is another one of those camps with the red creatures. Either way I should probably head to it and check it out. A fire in the middle of a forest isn't really a great idea after all. It doesn't take long for me to come across the area. It is a small camp, not an enemy camp, just a regular one. There is a half buried log that has several homemade torches leaning on it along with a bow and some arrows. There is also a small overhang that would provide some shelter from the rain. I spot a campfire that has a large metal pot which has four metal legs sticking into the ground and holding the pot over the fire. A cooking pot! A bit beat up but definitely what it was supposed to be. This is someone's camp. I assume that it's the old man with the paraglider and I start looking around for him. If this was his camp then surely I could finagle some answers from him since I tracked him all the way here. 

I wander around looking for him but have no such luck. I don't want to get lost so I don't wander to far away from the small camp. After a little bit I spot him heading toward me and I stand, he pauses looking a bit surprised but then just nods and heads towards me. As he gets closer I see that he is hauling a dead deer behind him. 

"Well, well, well... so we meet again! You aren't done yet though." 

I shake my head, I still needed two orbs after all. 'What are you doing?' I sign peering at him curiously. 

"Blast it all! My back is acting up again... I suppose that means this old man has had enough hunting for one day. Now I am going to skin and prep this meat. Make some beef jerky. If you stick around for the night I will share some with you." 

I tilt my head. It was getting pretty late. I glance around, there is a large tree nearby that I can climb to sleep in, this was my plan for avoiding the undead. I'm not sure if I will actually be able to sleep but I will try. 'Only if you answer some questions. Otherwise I can find my own food.'

The old man laughs. "I will answer what I can but some things are outside of my knowledge."

So I nod and sit down on the log watching him curiously. He hums as he starts to dress the deer. I hadn't tried to hunt anything like that since I didn't have a dagger or knife to skin with and the sword probably won't work, also I've managed to do alright without needing all of that food. A moment later he glances back at me. "Come closer and I will teach you how to do this." 

I think that I already know but I move forward anyway and allow him to teach me. I do remember a bit but this is a nice refresher. It's also thrilling to simply speak with him in this way. Nice and simple, he understands me and I'm not so alone. He sets some meat in the cooking pot for dinner and then starts on the process for making beef jerky. He pulls out a chunk of rock salt and starts to grind it spreading it over the meat walking me through the process for setting up drying racks and making sure to remove the fat because it goes rancid. 

"Beef jerky can take a few days to make depending on where you are and how hot it is. The desert is a good place during the day. Here it will take a while. But it keeps the meat good and it's easy to carry and eat on the go." 

I nod excited to be learning these processes and putting them into practice. 

"If you come back here in a few days it will be ready and you can have some. Or I will give you some next time I see you." 

I nod thanking him and sit back once the work is done glancing up to see that it is almost completely dark. He doesn't seem worried. 'Should we take some kind of shelter? You know... from the things that come out at night?' 

"Ah, so you have already seen them. No. We have a fire, they won't come towards it. But if you are uncomfortable, when you are ready to sleep climb a tree and tie yourself to the strong branches in the center and I will keep watch so you can sleep."

I smile and nod. 'Does fire really keep them away?' 

"For the most part. They thrive in the darkness and on fear."

'What exactly are they?' 

"A good question. And one I don't have a fully satisfying answer to."

I lean forward eagerly. I don't really care, any answer at all will help me and I am glad to be getting any information at all. 

"I suppose we should cover what they started out as. I am sure that you have seen them. The creatures that wander this land. Not Hylians like us, not any of the other sentient races, and not an animal."

I blink a bit as one of his sentences bring up images. I hold up a hand. 'Other sentient races. Rock.' I frown. This feels really wrong. Rock isn't the right word but I can't figure it out. 

"Yes, Goron's. They live in the volcanic region and have the peculiarity of having rock hard skin and the ability to gain nutrition from rare gems that they eat. They also don't need to eat as much as the other races. They are extraordinarily strong and heat resistant. There is a sign for them but I don't know it. You will have to ask one of them. There are deaf individuals who use sign language across every race. As well as other individuals who use a sign based language instead of a vocal one for whatever reason. I don't know how widespread or understood it is but surely someone there will know the right sign. For now you can just finger spell it."

I nod and fingerspell the word again. Gordon. 'Fish, bird'

The old man nods again. "I'm glad that you remember a bit. The fish people are an amphibious race called the Zora. I do remember the sign for them." He draws his hand in a letter z shape near the neck where gills would be placed. "The zora vary in shape and sizes appearing to have several species among their kind. The Zora have the ability to breathe underwater and prefer the lakes and rivers to dry land. The bird people are known as the Rito." He pauses and signs with an R in front of his mouth as if shaping a beak. "Simple enough, they have wings and can fly through the sky. Both species are very talented and have their own unique cultures and values. There is also another group of people who live here in Hyrule. The Gerudo women of the desert. They are an all female race with men being born to them very very rarely. If I understand correctly a Male hasn't been born to them in several hundred years. They venture out to mate with males but raise their girls in the all female villages of their country typically. Their sign also eludes me. Though I think I've seen the letter G with the sign for girl. So five races total populate Hyrule. The Goron's, the Rito, the Zora, the Gerudo, and the race that you belong to, the Hylians. Hylian are a more elven type race who are said to be able to hear the voice of the goddess far more clearly than others they also tend to be born with small peculiar gifts. Like your ability to climb things you shouldn't, and the ability to manipulate the natural energies in and around you. Some have an affinity for animals or different elements. Not all, but gifts like that appear more frequently among Hylians than they do the other races though each race has some sort of gifts that set them apart."

I listen fascinated. I didn't really remember all of this but as he speaks about it I start to remember flashes of images that allow me to understand what people like them look like. 'But the other creatures, the red ones and the blue one with the horns. They aren't sentient like them?'

"No they are not. They have no ability to speak and are like animals in that they focus on their survival. Little is known about them but research has been done in the past to attempt to communicate with them. The ones that you saw are called Bokoblins. The color difference seems to respond to age and strength. Blue are older than red and a bit stronger. Silver are stronger than blue and older. There aren't many of the stronger ones out there because they tend to kill each other off when they aren't hunting the other races. You shouldn't feel bad about killing them. They have no concept of family or self or life. They live to fight and kill. We are not sure how they are born but... they appear to be connected to the calamity. They weren't always like that though. Before calamity Ganon these creatures still existed. As do all sorts of dangerous magical creatures and animals all over the world. But most now seem to be controlled by the horribly putrid magic of the calamity. Which is related to our main subject. The undead. When these creatures are killed it appears that the magic of the calamity takes them and places them underground. Then when night falls they jump out to take out unsuspecting travelers. They are terrifying and many people fall prey to them. The only way to stop them is to take out the heads of all of them that are coming after you. But the best way to handle is to be in a large group of people with fire, or just inside when night falls."

I nod faintly. So they were caused by this creature that they want me to destroy. I have no idea how to do this. 'Thank you. I was very confused about all of that. I don't seem to have any memories of what happened leading up to being in that shrine that I woke up in. I've been trying to ask you questions this whole time but you don't stick around long enough normally.'

"Ah, my apologies. Unfortunately I don't have many more things I think I can help with. Our world is vast and wonderful and there are people who can enchant clothing and other items to make them usable with your natural energies to make them do wonderful things like repel the cold or the heat. Or even allow you to breath underwater. Magic is a wonderful thing to exist though to balance it out terrible magical things exist as well. I have faith in your abilities. For now you should get some sleep though."

I nod and bid him a good night before climbing the largest and sturdiest tree tying myself in. While we had been talking we had eaten some of the deer meet he had cooked and he had given me some for my food bag which I was grateful for. I like him a lot better now than I did a few days ago. He was helpful today. I tie myself in on the sturdiest and widest branch and to my surprise I manage to actually doze off.


	12. Magical clothing and bad recipes

I wake several times through the night just to check on myself and the old man to make sure we are still safe. He is still awake every time sitting by the fire. But once the sun is up and I properly wake up, by the time I make it to the ground, he is gone. I'm not to worried about it since it's daylight now, the early morning light filtering through the trees and that means it is safe from any undead creatures. I need to get on the road, so to speak, I know I will see him again so I go ahead and head out snacking on the meat I had left over from last night. I consider cooking an egg in the cooking pot but I don't want to make a mess at his camp. I would obviously clean up after myself, but just in case. 

I wander through the forest for another day. I find another bokoblin encampment and wipe it out. They had two sentries and I forage for their arrows after the battle, pleased when I find thirty arrows. However it's in a small clearing that I meet my next great foe. The ground starts to shake and instinctively I duck and cover. This however is the wrong thing to do as a huge rock creature burst forth from the ground. Goron? Rock people? My mind immediately pulls up a hazy image of an actual Goron and I mentally chastise myself. The creature has some sort of black thing jutting from its head. Magical ore? I feel the instinct to reach out and hit it. However the creature starts to hurl rocks at me! I turn tail and run. Some part of me seems to know that it won't follow, that they are extremely territorial and that it won't care about me as long as I just get out of it's way. So I do. Eventually it is no longer following me and I start to relax. It is now evening and I come out on the other side of the forest. Lovely. There is the gentle slope of this side of the mountain that will take me to the river. I nod and pick a tree to climb for the night. This was my best bet for tonight to secure myself and try to get some sleep though I don't think that I will. 

I am correct in my assumption. I can hear the creatures rummaging through the night and the frightened calls of the deer and boars who roam the forest as they are startled by the undead beings. I pity them and want to help but it's better to conserve my energy. This is my second night out of my shrine and who knows how many more I will need to spend out here up a tree. Well tomorrow I will have to find something else, I don't see many trees up the mountain slope. It is during my self inspection during this second night in a tree, I am not sleeping well so I spend a lot of time thinking, there are so many things here that are odd, and another one comes to me. The old man had known I had lost my memory. I didn't recall telling him that. I had simply assumed I must have mentioned it at some point but I don't actually remember doing so. Oh! He had also know about my climbing gift? Had I told him that? Had he watched me? I wonder briefly if this man is stalking me across the plateau. I was already suspicious of him but I was even more so now. Hadn't he said that Hylians could hear the Goddess? Had she told him? My thoughts lead to a restless night. 

Come morning I peer out into the distance at the gentle sloping sides, one area looks a bit like a carved path, there are even what looks like old stairs that have been overgrown in some parts of them. No reason to push myself if I can take the easy way. For a moment I consider going back and fighting the stone creature, but no, I don't feel confident enough in my ability yet. So I climb down and head for the pathway glad the way ahead seems to be clear. It's another beautiful landscape, however there is nothing really worth noting. After some travel I find the water, just like I thought, I can see one of the shrines right across the river, within touching distance I just have to cross. I venture down to the water and venture a touch, its freezing. Just like ice. I pull back frowning. I can also see ice and snow on the other side of the river bank. There is a broken bridge I could cross if I repaired it. But it's far too cold here by the river even with the doubling up I did with my pants. I sigh and retreat back up the bank and continue my explorations. There has got to be something over here that I can use. Anything at all to help me get to those damn shrines that I can literally see but are far to cold for some reason. I should have asked the old man about it while I had the chance. During the day I run across three enemy encampments and wipe them out. Night starts to fall and I return to one of the enemy camps. It had been built into a tree and had a drawbridge on it. I climb up the bridge and drag it up behind me securing myself safe and sound on the platform for the night. It's a bit chillier tonight perhaps due to how close I am to the higher parts of the mountain, but I get a decent night sleep though I am starting to feel disheartened. The next morning to my absolute fury, I find myself looking at the temple of time. I'm not completely sure how. I was following the river looking for a way to get over looking for any sort of solution to my problem and I just see the temple. I've somehow traveled all the way back to my starting point. I pull out my map, and sure enough, I am above the shrine of resurrection. This puts me in an exceptionally bad mood. All of that work and exploration and I am no closer to my goal. This was supposed to be some sort of silly test wasn't it! Why was it so hard? I take a deep breath. Surely it isn't that bad. I got some answers from the old man, who wouldn't tell me his name when prompted, and I gained some valuable life experience. I decide I may as well make my way back to my shrine so that I can get a proper rest before coming up with a new plan. The cliffs are too steep to just climb down so I continue on to the temple and plan to make my way back up the easy common pathway that leads right to the front door. 

Set on a pathway for my day I am looking forward to a night in the safety of my shrine. As I pass by the temple I pause a moment, I can see over the top of the temple and there appears to be another smoke signal off in the distance, towards where the shrine I had been trying to get to the other day was. How odd. I decide that I am going to head that way tomorrow. Maybe the old man was there. Maybe not though, it might be an encampment of the bokoblins. If it is I will wipe them out. It starts to rain right before I make it to the shrine so I'm a little grumpier once I am inside and safe. I settle in for the night and write up my experiences from the past few days before falling into a fitful sleep. 

The next morning I prepare like I am going to be gone for several days again. Just in case. I don't think I am going that far and I can always teleport back but I might find the pathway to the shrine as well. It's taken me far longer than I would like to admit to succeed so I want to be prepared when I finally do have my breakthrough. On my way out I pass by the temple of time and decide to pause for a moment there and sit before the statue of the goddess. I wish she could answer my questions. Did she really develop these trials for me? Having a hand in leaving the monks here far past their expiration just so I could undergo this training? I don't stay too long and I am grateful that the smoke is still rising in the distance because I can simply follow it to the end.

Not long after I can see the enemy encampment that I had found and wiped out the other day. I pull myself up onto one of their sentry towers to get a better look for the smoke. To my absolute fury, I see what appears to be a cabin not far. This must be where the old man lives. I was so close to it before now and I completely overlooked it because I was too busy looking up the shrine up the cliff. It's just after noon and I climb down wondering if the old man is home or still out in the forest making beef jerky. It's a small house with only one room it looks like and there is a cooking pot outside of it and a sitting log as well. I wonder if he built this all by himself when he was younger. It's quaint. I wouldn't mind something cute like this honestly. I could settle down and hunt and live happily. But I have a mission. 

I don't see him anywhere around and I actually start to wonder if maybe someone else lives here instead. I don't go into his house because I feel like that is rude. I wait patiently for someone to show up, I've spent this long up here may as well spent a little bit more time. Eventually he comes into the area, I hear him first, whistling over the wind. He has a wood axe and some wood he must have been gathering. He sets it with the pile of wood against the side of the house and then spots me sitting against the log by the cooking fire. 

"Oho! So we meet again! I am pleased that you made it out here to my house! I expected to see you out here sooner since there is a shrine right up there!" He points to the shrine we can see the orange glowing from here I flush and shrug unwilling to admit I had been so focused on the shrine that I missed the house before. 

"Well I saved some of that beef jerky for you. I also wanted to talk to you about cooking. I bet you've basically just been eating whatever you can raw right?"

I nod my head. 'Apples and mushrooms. Easy to eat that way.'

"Yes but you can't live on a diet like that. On a desolate plateau like this, I'm the only one who lives here. No one else can make the climb up these steep cliffs. The only way up was if a monk or disciple with a sheikah slate brought you up here to the training grounds. You only left once you mastered what you came here to learn. Since the school hasn't been running for a hundred years, it's just me and will always be me now I suppose. Then you of course. But one of the only things that brings me comfort is cooking! Sometimes I really outdo myself and I can create amazingly delicious dishes!"

I just look at him in confusion wondering what this was about. I gesture my confusion and he laughs a bit. 

"Patience young man! You are aware that some ingredients have special properties. I know you know that because I can see the stamella shrooms you have hooked at your waist! Some harness the magic of stamina like those, if you are tired or out of energy simply eat a stamella shroom and you will be back in tip top shape and ready to keep running or climbing or teleporting! Others harness healing abilities, they can aid in your body's natural ability to heal itself meaning if you get injured you can simply eat some of those and be feeling better pretty quickly depending on the energy. Some foods can give you a resistance to the heat or the cold or even electricity! Some foods however in order to release their magical properties you have to cook them! This is part of what makes cooking so exciting and enjoyable. Finding ingredients and learning what they do. Plus it tastes good too! Sometimes at least."

I perk up intrigued. Could this be the solution to the problem I am having with the cold weather on the mountain? Simply cook up something that would allow me to be a bit more resistant up there? 

'Can you tell me what foods do what and what they look like?' 

"Actually I can do better. Why don't you come inside? It's looking like it might rain."

I nod and follow him inside smiling at how cozy it is, there is a bed over in the corner and a few homemade tables, one is piled with ingredients and the other has a few books on it with a chair nearby. 

"Nice isn't it? Home sweet home. I do all that I can and I think it's a cozy little life."  
He moves over to the books and shifts through them. "Here we are, this is the information on magical plants that I have collected over the years. Including my own lovely drawings. You are free to take a look through it and see what you think." 

I nod and take the book from him. He sits on the bed and I sit in the chair thanking him as I skim through the pages listening to him continue to talk. 

"The other day I made this delectable meal. Some meat from a bird I caught, some fish and some spicy peppers I found not far from here. They grow in a wild patch. It has the side effect of making you cold resistant for a while after you eat it. Spicy peppers will do that they warm up your system. Don't eat them in the desert though! You have to be careful when dabbling with magical properties or you can really hurt yourself." 

'Can you show me where that patch is? I need to get up the mountain and I think using that magical ability will help me get to the other shrines!' I'm excited now but the old man just blinks at me. 

"Oh no, I am so sorry, I completely forgot. I meant to give it to you right when you started. I knew the temperature would be an issue, is that what has been hindering you?" He stands going over to a chest before I can respond and I pause watching him carefully. He opens this one easily nothing like having to pry the ones out in the wild open like I do. He turns back around holding a shirt. Its intricately designed and has some bits of metal with runes on them attached to it. 

"This is just a regular doublet. They are designed to keep people warm, however, these runes have been added to this one and if you feed your energy into them like you would the sheikah slate, this becomes a magical artifact that will keep you warm and toasty despite the temperature outside. The more energy. The warmer you will be. I meant to give it to you and teach you how to use it earlier, but I guess my old age is finally catching up with me. I'm sorry." 

I look up at him with wide eyes, 'for me? You are giving something this precious to me?' 

"Yes. I don't want anything in return except for the rest of the treasure as per our original deal. I would also like you to stay here tonight and I will show you what the runes look like that do different things. One of those books detail it. I can teach you what I know. Then tomorrow you can don your new clothing and head on up the mountain and conquer the world." The last sentence is said teasingly and I smile and nod. I need to learn these things after all. I will make notes on my slate for further studying later. We spend a long afternoon and evening chatting over the books as I learn to recognize the runes for different things. I show him my special arrows and he tells me there are ice arrows as well that will freeze an opponent in place. Surviving in this world seems like it is going to be quite difficult. He offers me the bed when night time comes and I refuse it. There is a fire outside and he shows me a sliding wood slab that he uses as a door to cover the entrance to his home. We will be safe here. He lays down and I curl up on the floor. It doesn't bother me since I have slept on the floor before in the tub and up in a tree. It would be nice to sleep in a bed but this is fine and he is an old man. 

He still wouldn't tell me his name. I'm starting to wonder if he has one or if he was left here as a child or something. I drift off to sleep worrying about how lonely his life must have been until I showed up and changed everything.


	13. Owa Diam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I hope that you really enjoy this story! This chapter is a bit slow but we are almost done with the Plateau! Dueling peaks is where things will really get interesting! I have so many more characters to work with there and personalities to develop. Hope you stick around!

The next morning I wake and slowly stretch out the cricks in my back. We were safe through the night just like last time. I smell something delicious and notice that he isn't in bed anymore. I follow the scent out the now open front door and find him tending to the cooking pot, he is whistling again and in cheerful response I whistle too. He startles a bit dropping his wooden cooking utensils into the pot and looks up at me his eyes a bit wider. 

'Sorry!' I sign quickly, I hadn't meant to scare him. But he just laughs. 

"Sorry? No need to be sorry my boy! I've just been alone for so long and you don't make much noise so I was surprised to hear anything besides myself and nature! It is a very welcome sound to hear however! Thank you! Come sit down, I've made some breakfast, I hope that you’ll like it!"

I smile and head over to sit beside him. He has a few wooden slabs beside him that he appears to be using as plates. He picks one up and fishes the spatula out before sliding a cooked egg onto one of the plates. Egg! A cooked egg! I have been wanting one of these since I first saw the eggs in the tree! Next he slides some cooked shrooms onto the plate with some spicy peppers. They he sets an apple on it and hands it to me. "Got to have a nice well rounded breakfast when you are getting ready to storm the mountain!" He says cheerfully. "I've got some spices too, a bit of rock salt if you would like it " 

I shake my head balancing the plate in my lap. 'No thank you this looks absolutely delicious.' I start to eat, ravenous as he laughs. 

"Good to hear! I'm quite fond of it as well. I also cooked up some spicy peppers for you to take on your trip as well just in case you need them. Feel free to return here whenever you desire my company though I feel like I will be seeing you pretty soon now that you have the means to take on the other shrines. Also I've got that beef jerky I promised you. I even made you a new bag to attach it to your belt with, made out of the skin of the deer we made the jerky out of. Gotta make use of everything after all! I also made you some mittens out of it just in case your hands got cold on the trip up. I hope you will accept all of this."

I smile up at him and nod. He seemed a bit like a father figure and despite how infuriating he was I really was starting to grow attached to him. 

'Thank you I will make use of all of this and I will have all four of your treasures for you before you know it.'

He laughs and chats to me a bit more while we finish eating. Eventually he stands. "Well I have chores to do and you have an adventure to begin. Good luck and I will see you soon!" 

I nod and get up offering to help with the chores but he waves me off and sends me on my way. Before I know it, I'm heading back up the mountain wearing my new doublet and mittens on over my other clothes. 

It doesn't take long for me to cross over into the cold area and I slowly start to funnel my energy into the runes to keep me warm. I am very grateful for them. I cross reference the map frequently and end up doing quite a bit of climbing around on the rocks. I am trying to get to the shrine that I could see from the old man's house. I want him to see me and be proud of me I think. Which is an odd feeling and I am not going to research it to much. It's also the closest according to the map so that seems to be the most reasonable way to do it. I come across a small encampment and take out the bokoblins who are there. They have a fire going and I wonder again how in the world these creatures could start a fire. I want to start fires as easily as them. Maybe I can, maybe I can use the energy to start a fire paired with the runes like how I'm keeping warm now? But that is speculation for another time. Technically the shrine isn't even in the cold territory but it's much easier to get to it by cutting through the snow. But finally, finally, I am there, and I slide into the tube and head down into the shrine. 

The moment I stop moving and take a look around the room I have a minor panic attack. There is a cog connected to a platform which is turning! Straight into the air and then down and then gone again. The very first hurdle that I will have to figure out how to pass! I can also see a slanting downwards tunnel thing with large stone balls dropping down and rolling down the tunnel. If one of those hit me it would kill me. Those appear to be the only two obstacles and I can actually see the blue box in the distance. The voice of the monk begins to speak, welcoming me to the Owa Daim shrine. It says the same thing as the last two so I don't pay too much attention to it as I head over to the pedestal that will give me whatever peculiar power it is that I need to overcome these peculiar trials. 

I follow the same process that I had done before and lift the slate once the rune is distilled looking over the information. Stasis. Stop the flow of time for an object. Stops an object in time while storing its kinetic energy. The stored energy will act upon the object when the flow of time resumes. Making good use of the stored energy can move even the largest of objects. 

Fascinating. Once again I spend several hours attempting to master this rune. I had never thought of this being one of the abilities that I would be able to learn but now that I am practicing it, it almost feels natural. Obviously it isn't really stopping time just holding the object in place since a proper stopping of time would halt everything and that is simply unreasonable. But it's a good marketing tactic to get people excited about the ability. I am pretty excited about it after all and wondering if its useable on living creatures like the bokoblins as well. 

No way to find out in here so I simply start on the trial. The Stasis doesn't last for long but it's just barely long enough for me to be able to run across the platform once I've frozen it as near to straight as I can. Next I freeze the ball as it slides across the solid ground and run like hell up the tube. I wonder if people ever actually died during these trials but I don't want to find out. I dart sideways onto the next walking platforms just in time. I discover that there is one more trial that I need to pass that I hadn't noticed right away. There is a sledge hammer leaning against the wall and one of those stone balls set into an indention. The meaning seems clear enough. Stasis the ball and then hit it with the hammer to build up the kinetic energy so when the stasis lifts it flies out of the indention and out of the way. I will then be able to simply walk across the rest of this bridge and make it to the monk. I manage this in one go to my pleasure and discover that I am quite fond of the sledgehammer. It's a bit heavier than my sword but I abandon the sword there leaning it against the wall and attaching the hammer to my back before heading across to the glowing blue box which houses the dead monk and my treasure. 

Once I have collected my third spirit orb I gently set it at the bottom of my bag with the other two. I make my way back to the exit and am displeased to note that I have to stasis the ball again and the spinning platform. But I successfully make it back to the exit elevator and ride it out of the shrine. I discover that I still have a few hours of daylight left once I make it outside. I decide that I want to try to make it back to the house where the old man lives so that I can rest there tonight. But it would probably be easier to simply teleport back to the shrine of resurrection. I think I'm lonely though and I've enjoyed his company.

Luckily the trial hadn't taken all that long honestly so if I haul ass I should be able to make it back before dark. I do, just barely. I'm jogging up panting when he is starting to close his door. He pauses with wide eyes in surprise and steps aside to let me in. I grin at him and thank him as I slide into the relative warmth of the house. I still have the doublet on though I'm not using the runes on it anymore, it's just easier to carry the extra clothes with me like this. 

"I didn't think I would see you back tonight. Were you successful?"

I grin and hold up three fingers triumphantly and he laughs. "That's fantastic. Well you better get some sleep, I insist you take the bed tonight." I roll my eyes and snort in disdain before settling down where I had slept the night before. 

'Good night'

"Yes goodnight little warrior." He responds in a whisper before laying down as well. I rest easily that night as well the frustrations of the previous days slowly disappearing.


	14. Keh Namut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I can't believe I only need to post four more chapters here. I am already 20k into the dueling peaks region. I can't wait to reveal that to you guys. I have really enjoyed the characters there so far. Don't forget to let me know what you think about this chapter!

I am well on my way now. A morning spent chatting with the man in high spirits has left me cheerful. At this point not knowing his name seems natural and it seems silly for me to keep pressing for something that he won't give. He tells me that the journey to the fourth shrine will likely be an overnight one. 

I agree with him and tell him that I will probably use the stamella shrooms to stay awake if I can't find a safe place to sleep. He shakes his head a bit telling me that was dangerous. I brush it off. Couldn't be more dangerous than sleeping where the undead could take you out. He has cooked breakfast again and this time its eggs with a bit of meat and mushrooms. It's just as delicious and I'm sad that I won't get a similar treat tomorrow. I have a vague memory of getting to eat rich warm food for every meal though I can't place it. I hope one day I have a house where I can cook every morning. I bid him goodbye making sure all of my gear is attached and he watches me go. For some reason he looks sad this morning. He doesn't comment on it though. Just like he has never commented on the magic skills that I am learning here on this plateau. I never have either though so I guess we are both guilty. He must know about it though. Otherwise why would he have sent me on this journey? 

It is not an easy journey. Maybe even the toughest one so far. There is no clear pathway. It's over the hills and small cliffs. I spend just as much time walking as I do climbing. Its exhausting. My food also starts to freeze after a while which makes meals hard. I'm expending energy constantly to get warm. Pretty quickly it becomes obvious that there is going to be no hiding up a tree tonight. My hand brushes over the frozen stamella at my hip. I would have to use the stimulate to keep awake through the night. I encounter a few of the bokoblins whom seem to not be affected by the cold at all. My sword feels heavier than normal in my hands as I march over the terrain. 

Night falls and my anxiety heightens. Monsters that appear from the ground at sudden intervals while also traveling in an unknown area in the dark looking for a glowing orange building behind mounds of rock. None of that serves to make my life any easier. 

I thaw pieces of the stamella in my mouth and eat them periodically which helps with the exhaustion. I find myself sliding down cliff sides glad that they aren't too tall. It's so dark up here but there is no cloud cover so the moonlight is barely enough to travel by. I spend most of the night fighting the undead creatures and I'm not even properly following the map when I see the glowing of the shrine. It's almost sunrise and I make a run for the shrine with several of the creatures following me. Unfortunately this includes living and undead creatures who don't seem to be bothered by each other. If I can just activate the travel gate, I would call it a day and teleport back to the shrine of resurrection. I slide the slate over the activation pedestal and listen to the sounds as I pull my bow out and start taking out the enemies from afar. It's difficult but not impossible. I recently had eaten a full stamella so I feel confident in my transportation abilities. As soon as there is a brief lull I quickly jab through the confirmations as they barrell toward me and I disappear into the blue light.

Landing in the shrine of resurrection I could almost weep for joy. It's so much warmer here and I'm already starting to feel clearer. I decide to take a days rest before heading back to the shrine. I know I'm close to my goal but finding the shrine took everything out of me. Not to mention basically drugging myself up. I wasn't fond of having to do that but I also hadn't wanted to let myself falter and get killed before I ever made it off of this peculiar land island. There was so much I wanted to go see and do. 

After my rest day I teleport back to the shrine. Keh namut. 

I enter the shine as is normal. I'm anxious and tense. This is the last trial here. So I am expecting it to be far harder than any other trial, maybe some of those spindly creatures will jump out and take me out the moment I enter. But they don't. Its a normal looking room with a tunnel not far forward. I frown a bit and slowly inch towards the pedestal that will tell me what I am learning today. To the left I see a gate and there is more on the other side of it. There is also a small pool of water before the tunnel which is set up off the ground so that I can't reach it and far too smooth for even me to climb.

"Cryonis" the pedestal tells me and draws my attention back to what I am actually supposed to be doing. I pick the slate up to read the info about it. Create a pillar of ice from a water surface. Builds ice pillars that are very stable. These pillars can be used as stepping stones or as obstacles. You can break the pillar as well with this ability. Advanced users can use ice to make other objects.

Well that explains why this shrine was so high up in the snowy mountains and the weather so weird. It was preparing me to become a little snow queen. This pleases me greatly. Being able to freeze water over lakes or rivers to aid in crossing them? I wouldn't need to worry about boats or finding some other way to get around them! 

I pull up the teaching manual and move to the small water pool. So I was supposed to make a pillar of ice and use it to get up onto the platform of the tunnel. Simple enough. This skill is a bit difficult to master. There are far more specifics than with the other three abilities that I have learned. Probably because there are so many different things you can do with ice. The power doesn't want to obey me and ice ends up coating everything in the room. I try to reverse the ability to melt the ice but that eludes me as well. This takes me the longest to learn and seems to use the most energy. I eat through a good portion of my stored food in my bag, though I don't touch the stamella again. Those should be saved for emergencies. 

Eventually though I have succeeded in making several pillars that do not automatically crumble and which hold themselves up under my testing. I carefully pull myself up climbing to the top and successfully pull myself into the tunnel. The tunnel platform immediately has stairs which lead down into another shallow pool of water. I scowl as I get my feet wet. I could try to just ice it but I'm already quite tired and don't want to exhaust my supply of energy. There are some bars in the room as well I frown examining it. They are white and appear to have intricate carvings. If they are runes though, I can't read them. And nothing happens when I feed my energy into then after a moment I notice the bars don't reach all the way to the ground and I nod. It's a gate. That slides up and down. I'm not strong enough to lift it myself but an ice pillar should hold it. I overcome that hurdle and slide though to the next, now up to my knees in the water.

Immediately I see it. The thing I had been dreading. Another one of those spindly creatures starts to glow purple and moves towards me. There isn't a metal block I can smash it with this time and I dive back behind my ice pillar and pull my shield out. I am also still wielding my war hammer that I am very fond of but it's a bit difficult to wield with my shield as well. It seems to take a while to load a laser, I wonder if I can run up to it and hit it with the hammer. The knock back on the shield I used on the creatures that were stuck in the ground wouldn't really work with one of these small ones that moved so quickly. So I put the shield back up and jump back out quickly lashing out at the creature with my hammer after running towards it in a quick sprint. I bash the creature in the top head area where the laser shoots out and I continue to bash it until there is no way it could come back to life. I slowly take a deep breath and back away watching it slowly twitch and then still. That wasn't so bad. These weren't so strong I couldn't handle them. They were quick but not as quick as me! 

I continue forward and discover what looks like a see saw balanced precariously, it is huge however. This does seem to be what needs to be used to got to the second floor level which is otherwise inaccessible. It's much higher than the tunnel platform which I could just climb a pillar for. I create a pillar under one side and watch the platform shift to an angle that I am pretty sure I can run up. I manage it though this as well is exhausting. Once I reach the top I see that this trial is over. I have successfully completed it, right up those stairs is the glowing box and the monk. I slowly approach feeling no need to rush. The excitement is starting to build. The anticipation. I had succeeded. He would have to give me the paraglider now and I would be able to leave this plateau and actually begin to live again. I am eager to see the world. Eager to live my life. I'm still young, though my age still eludes me, I want to explore and discover things and just live my life! I know at the end of the day I have a mission. But that seems so far away and I don't really have a plan for what to do to handle any of that. So for now I will just take it nice and slow. I reach out and touch the box watching it shatter and dissipate. This no longer scares me. The orb is gifted to me in the name of Hylia as always and I carefully tuck it down in with the other three. Thankfully they are roughly the size of marbles so they are easy to carry. Though they have an odd bird like symbol etched on them. And of course they glow with a swirling, smoky, purple like substance. I thank the monk who fades to dust and head back the way I came my heart pounding and my mind trying to imagine all of the things that I am going to get to see. A part of me also wants to tell the old man my accomplishments. I want him to be proud of me. This makes me feel a little silly but he is the only person I know so it seems natural to have this desire. 

The moment I exit the shrine I activate the runes on my clothes to warm myself up. I am wet after all and it's cold out here. I plan to teleport back to my home shrine and head out to see the old man at his home. But I hear a familiar, Oho! Then the old man comes drifting out of the sky with his paraglider to great me. I raise my hands to start telling him about it excitedly but he waves me off and starts speaking first instead. 

"With this you have now acquired all of the spirit orbs from the shrines on this plateau."

I nod my head eagerly and move to pull them out and show him.

"Oho ho! Extraordinary! That means that it is finally time. Link, it is finally time for me to tell you everything."

I pause frowning at him. So it was true then. He knew things. It was time for me to learn them. I also start to notice a blue smoky light seeming to start appearing encircling the old man. This is alarming and I step back a little but he doesn't seem to notice as he continues speaking. 

"But first..." the old man slowly turns around so he isn't facing me anymore and gestures into the distance. "Imagine an X on your map. With the four shrines as the end points. Find the spot where those lines intersect. I shall wait for you there. Do you understand? Where those two lines connecting the shrines will cross. There... I will... be waiting..."

The light slowly increases as he speaks swirling around him and he seems to start fading away. By the time he is done speaking, there is nothing left but the swirling blue orbs which slowly disappear as well. 

I stand there a long time. That hadn't been like the teleportation light. It had been different. I feel a sinking feeling in my chest and I take a slow steadying breath. I prepare myself for facing more bizarre magic. The old man isn't real. He was like the monks or something. That was the closest thing that light reminded me of. Well. If that was true. He could wait one more night. It's starting to get dark. So I teleport back to my home shrine and try to sleep. Though I spend most of the night lying awake stressing over the mystery of the old man before I finally fall asleep.


	15. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well this is it guys, the chapter where he gets the information he has been searching for. Some of it at least. 
> 
> Let me know what you guys think!

The next morning I wake way later than I intend to. Considering the fact that I struggled to fall asleep last night. It isn't actually a surprise. Though it is still an annoyance. I don't feel very hungry but I successfully force myself to eat an apple at least. This is the first time since I awoke that I feel this way. It isn't scared or annoyed or angry like some of my other feelings. This is more like a deep seated sadness that makes it extraordinarily hard for me to decide that I should get up and face the world. 

Eventually I succeed however and I pull out the map and examine it slowly and carefully drawing a line with my fingers. It appears that the center point would be the temple of time. Of course it would be. I sigh and stand deciding it's time to start heading that way. It isn't far and I have a destiny to face and many, many questions. 

I arrive at the temple around noon and I slowly look around peering for the old man. He said that he would be here but I don't see him anywhere. Then I remember the old ladder that leads to the top of the temple. I could use that to climb up and survey from above. I carefully climb up the ladder balancing on the old patched roof. My theory is right. I do see him once I have a higher vantage point to look around. But it isn't where I expect. He is up here. On top of the roof. Standing there in that dilapidated room that I had briefly explored before. He is just standing there staring at me and I figure he has been there since I left the other shrine last night. 

I am nervous again. But not the happy fluttery anticipation from last night. It's nasty and not fun. It makes my stomach churn and I want to vomit up my meager breakfast. But I take a deep breath and slowly head toward his still waiting form. 

"Well done there young man! Finding me here!"

I roll my eyes at him my anxiety over this meeting cannot keep me from thinking that he is a bit weird and made obvious things far more complicated than they need to be. I settle in the room next to him and gesture for him to get to the point. It was time and I didn't want to wait anymore. 

He chuckles a bit seeming to find me absolutely endlessly amusing. "Now then... the time has come to show you who I truly am." Slowly the same blue magic that had surrounded him before is appearing around him once again. 

"I was King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule. I was...the last leader of Hyrule. A kingdom which no longer exists." Suddenly the blue whispers increase to a blinding blue light that is so intense I have no recourse but to look away. Once it has settled and I am able to look back at this man whom is now claiming to be a king, I haven't managed to process that thought yet. The man that I look back up at, is definitely a king. A crown on his white head and a huge belt buckle. Which I ogle a moment. Who needs a belt buckle that big? Maybe it was a status symbol? But in my mind the finery of the clothes and the elegance of his robe do a far better job of proclaiming his status. He is also now floating off of the ground. I know now. He is a spirit. A ghost. Not quite the undead that attack at night but still undead.

"The Great Calamity was merciless... It devastated everything in its path, lo, a century ago. It was then that my life was taken away from me. And since that time, here I have remained in spirit form. I did not think it wise to overwhelm you while your memory was still fragile." He turns from me and slowly floats over to the broken wall facing out towards the castle. He was probably right if we are to be honest. I was having trouble with it even now though with everything that had happened, it wasn't all that out of place. 

"So rather than that, I thought it best to assume a temporary form. Forgive me. I think you are now ready. Ready to hear what happened 100 years ago." 

He glances back at me and seems to be beckoning me to join him looking out at the castle. I cautiously do so a bit nervous about being near the spirit with all this energy swirling around him in this ruined room. I look out at the castle and he reaches out to touch the back of my neck. I tense and my eyesight goes fuzzy and seems to shift. I am no longer looking at the castle surrounded by the dark swirling beast as I had been. Instead, a beautiful castle, much closer than before looms before me as he continues to speak. Though I no longer see him beside me. I seem to be having a vision of some sort. Perhaps the King was showing me these memories? It feels like we run down a hall of the palace to look at these towering carvings from an age past. Hieroglyphic like stories told in runes with no written words that I understand. But the pictures seem to be pretty clear. 

"To know Calamity Ganon's true form, one must know the story from an age long past. The demon King was born into this kingdom, but his transformation into Malice created the horror you see now. Stories of Ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales But there was also... a prophecy."

The images carved into the wall I am looking at are pretty clear. This panel shows a beastly form that seems to be depicting Ganon. To the right, a figure holding a sword, to the left, another figure with blond hair and a white dress. This figure appears to be wielding some sort of magical power. Both figures are battling the beast.

''The signs of a resurrection of Calamity Ganon are clear. And the power to oppose it lies dormant beneath the ground.''

The image shifts and I feel dizzy and disoriented. I am now looking up at a high cliff with wooden platforms built into the side. People on top are excavating the rock.

"We decided to heed the prophecy and began excavating large areas of land. It wasn't long before we discovered several ancient relics made by the hands of our distant ancestors." The image zooms in on two men, one with white hair but he doesn't look old. Before I can think on it the mountain side shakes and the rocks crumble revealing a mechanical looking machine in a weird shape. Like an animal.

"These relics, the Divine Beasts, were giant machines piloted by warriors. We also found the Guardians, an army of mechanical soldiers who fought autonomously." I watch in horror as other men slowly excavate the spindly creatures from the ground. These are the dead ones I have seen outside, except for a few live ones around one of the shrines that were stuck in the ground. These aren't the little ones that had attacked me from inside two of the shrines. Guardians. They were called guardians? They were terrifying. They didn't seem to be guarding anything. Just attempting to kill me. 

"This coincided with ancient legends, oft repeated throughout our land." The image changes again I am back in front of the walls in the palace with the ancient carvings. This one has many carvings of the guardians and in the lower corner what looks like a camel shaped creature. The edges are blurred but slowly expanding outward and I slowly realize I'm not looking at a different image but the same one before but the lower left corner. In the center is the beast and the two figures from the first time I glimpsed it.

"We also learned of a princess with sacred power and her appointed knight, chosen by the sword that seals the darkness. It was they who sealed Ganon away using the power of these ancient relics."

I nod looking up at the figures surrounding the beast. The one with the sword was the knight. The sacred power must be some form of these abilities similar to what I have except maybe more spiritual? Perhaps she could channel the power of the goddess herself? The image quickly shifts again and I am looking down on a stone circular structure on the ground, two people standing on it, one a little shorter than the other and standing in front of the more flowing figure. The light from the sun behind them makes it impossible to properly see their features. 

"One hundred years ago, there was a princess set to inherit a sacred power and a skilled knight at her side. It was clear that we must follow our ancestors’ path."

More shadowy people flash across my mind, "We selected four skilled individuals from across Hyrule and tasked them with the duty of piloting the diving beasts." I instinctively know these four shapes are from the four other dominant races in Hyrule. Then they are standing beside the two other figures on the circular platform and it becomes apparent that the way I saw it before was backwards. The flowing figure was facing the sun and the knight and the other people were ringed behind the figure. Following her command.

"With the princess as their commander, we dubbed these pilots Champions - a name that would solidify their unique bond. The princess, her appointed knight, and the rest of the Champions were on the brink of sealing away Ganon..." 

The image zooms in on the back of her head and then past to the castle which appears in the distance again. The beautiful castle which begins to shake. The beast slowly rising from the ground around it.

"But nay... Ganon was cunning, and he responded with a plan beyond our imagining. He appeared from deep below Hyrule Castle, seized control of the Guardians and the Divine Beasts, and turned them against us."

Odd towers erupt around the castle and the purple dark energy spewing from the calamity ganon spreads out taking control of the beasts and the guardians. One of the guardians crawls on spindly legs, a huge terrifying guardian, shooting everything in its path. I know that no one survived. Not here in the palace at least.

"The Champions lost their lives. Those residing in the castle as well. The appointed knight, gravely wounded, collapsed while defending the princess... And thus, the kingdom of Hyrule was devastated absolutely by Calamity Ganon."

I watch in horror as the castle and surrounding lands are devastated. Then I see her properly for the first time. I know who she must be. The princess. My princess. I was her knight and I failed her. She stands before the castle, no fear in her face. She is ready to face the calamity alone without me or her champions. I grit my teeth. I don't know if I'm glad I don't remember this properly or not. 

"However... The princess survived... to face Ganon alone."

I hear her then. Speaking to me in the same voice I had been hearing since before I had ever awoken in the shrine of resurrection. 

''Link, you are our final hope. The fate of Hyrule rests with you'' 

She holds up her hand to the beast and magic like nothing I have ever seen erupts from her hand, she wears a triforce glove on it, this must be the sacred power of the princess. It contains the beast to the castle. I also suspect it is what allows me to live. Then I am standing beside the king again no longer entrapped in odd visions or memories and I take a slow deep breath. 

"That Princess was my own daughter... My dear Zelda. And the courageous knight who protected her right up to the very end...That knight was none other than you, Link." 

He turns properly to face me telling me this which I had already guessed and suspected. I had failed and those people had died. I feel guilt swelling up over an incident that I can't even remember. I should have been better. I should have done more. I know now, I have no choice. I will defeat the beast myself, even at the cost of my life maybe even preferably. To pay for my mistakes. Innocents would have perished due to my failures the least I could do was to honor them. 

"You fought valiantly when your fate took an unfortunate turn. And then, you were taken to the Shrine of Resurrection. Here you now stand revitalized, 100 years later. The words of guidance you have been hearing since your awakening are from Princess Zelda herself. Even now, as she works to restrain Ganon from within Hyrule Castle, she calls out for your help. However, my daughters power will soon be exhausted. Once that happens, ganon will freely regenerate himself and nothing will stop him from consuming our land. Considering that I could not save my own kingdom, I have no right to ask this of you Link. But I am powerless here... you must save her... my daughter." 

I can hear and see this man's grief. Not just the grief of a king who feels he failed his people, but a father who failed his daughter. He clearly loves her. I feel myself relating to his feelings having similar grief for my failures that I am slowly learning about. Though he has had 100 lonely years to ruminate about them. 

"And do whatever it takes to annihilate calamity Ganon."

I reach out laying a hand on his arm looking up at him and giving him a fierce nod of my head. I would not fail this time. I would not. 

"Somehow, Ganon has maintained control over all four divine beasts, as well as the guardians swarming around Hyrule castle. Other guardians all over the country are programmed to just attack living things though don't exactly obey his will."

Oh, oh well shit. That was exceptionally bad news. I sigh rubbing my temple. So I probably needed those beasts or something. What exactly did they do? He didn't really tell me.

"I believe it would be quite reckless of you to head directly to the castle at this point."

I bare my teeth at him in annoyance. Obviously that would be an absolutely horrible idea. I had some mushrooms attached to my belt and a war hammer I stole from a dead guy in a shrine. He hadn't seemed to mind though. 

"I suggest... that you make your way east, out to one of the villages in the wilderness." 

I perk up a bit. Reasonably I knew that people had to have survived if they weren't directly in the original castle path, but this reassures me that I can meet other people and maybe find some answers to how to control these beasts and put together a proper path. Maybe he will even send me to someone who already knows! 

"Follow the road out to Kakariko village. There you will find the elder, Impa."

Wonderful! A name, a plan! I can work with that. I can find some person named Impa.

"She will tell you more about the path that lies ahead. Consult the map on your sheikah slate for the precise location of Kakariko village." He brushes his hand over my slate and it makes a noise confirming the transfer of data. "Make your way past the twin summits of the dueling peaks." He points at the mountains in the distance and I nod committing it to memory. A good solid landmark. "From there follow the road as it proceeds north. And here, the paraglider. Just as I promised." He slowly hands me the artifact and I look up at him with wide eyes. I had started all of this simply because I had wanted this paraglider. Now I was a disgraced knight who needed to save a princess. Was she even properly alive? Or simply a spirit? I try not to think too much about it.


	16. Lessons to be Learned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to tell me what you guys think!

"Now that you have this paraglider, you need to learn how to use it. It's rather simple as a flare of your energy and a shake of your hand, fling it out like this like shaking an umbrella out, and it expands to its full height. You can then jump out of high places and float down to the ground. Now I am sure that you know that paraglides depend on wind and moving air, the flare of energy you use will power it, you will be able to control the direction but you will steadily move down. To close it you simply retract your energy and it will become small again then you can hook it at your waist. I encourage you to expand it before you jump simply because it is safer just in case there is a malfunction but you can deploy it if you are in mid air like if you fall off of a cliff or something. Again, not recommended, but do what you must to save your own life. I am sure that you understand."

It's not a hard skill to learn and he has me practice it several times opening and closing before he ever allows me an attempt to jump, and when he does it isn't even from very high up. He says that he wants me to get the hang of it before I jump from a height that will kill me if I mess up and fall. I understand his reasoning but the adrenaline junky in me is insisting that I throw myself off the very top of mount Hylia near the Keh Namut shrine. That would be absolutely exhilarating. But I follow his instructions and don't do anything stupid. Eventually he pronounces our lessons on paragliding over. He tells me to practice more before jumping off the high cliffs of the plateau but that I should be fine. 

"Another cool thing that your Sheikah slate can do is it can archive books. I am sure you saw that there are several books in my house. You should go back and collect them. Store them in a chest if they are stored on your slate. So do you see this application here? If you click on it, it simply flashes this Rune at you continuously until you exit out right? However if you find a book that has this rune etched into the inside cover, that means the data from the book has been stored in that rune. If you lay the sheikah over the book and activate the rune, you will be able to transfer the data. I have a few books that will be useful for you. One on runes, one on magical creatures, one on plant life. One on the old histories. Sync them here for easy access. However if a book doesn't already have the rune programmed you won't be able to add the rune and make it work. There was a specific technique to do so but I don't remember how to do it. Someone explained it to me once but I hadn't seen it as very important since there was always someone else to do it for me."

I just nod and pat his arm. This was all really interesting information. 'You are a king. It's understandable that you didn't really do a lot of the menial tasks yourself. You had servants to do it for you.'

He laughs and nods. "Yes and I really took it for granted. The sheikah slates used by people with our abilities really spoiled us as well. They can do so many things. Only some seem to be available on yours however. Oh well. Time to move on I think. Let's talk about this app right here, it's got a chest icon. This is an extremely useful one that I think you will absolutely love. The other night you were complaining about only being able to have one weapon on you. Well I am going to blow your mind. This, is your inventory."

He clicks on the icon and it loads up to a blank screen with several slightly darker boxes across the screen. Well duh. I had looked at this before and nothing had changed. I look at him incredulously. "Now now don't give me that look young man. This app also requires syncing just like the books. There are three chests back at my house stored under the bed. They have runes on them, if you sync those runes to this app they will open up a world of possibilities. They work like teleportation portals. Once you sync them, you can put an item in the chest, and its image will appear here. You may then select it and teleport it to you wherever you are. You can also send items back to the inventory chest! No matter where you are! It is very similar to teleportation of your own body but since it is of objects Instead of a being, it is much easier to do. You can do it many times a day as well as teleport if you play your cards right."

I stand up, I am so excited quickly signing to him asking how it works and does he use it a lot? This solves so many of my problems! 

"Calm down or you are going to fall." He tells me teasingly. "Now. I have no idea how this works. Any of it. I didn't develop the runes. But it does. One of my chests is what we call a preservation chest. It keeps things cold, like food, so you can safely store food you collect that you don't want to eat quite yet."

This is even better news. I can't believe how easy this is actually going to be. I was so worried about how to feed and protect myself and these solutions were just slowly opening up. They excite and sadden me at the same time. This used to be the norm of the world for people like me. Yet now it was likely obsolete. 

"My suggestion is that you go back and collect all of these things from my house and take them to your shrine of resurrection. There you will be able to lock them safely inside plus that shrine is full of residual spiritual magic. You can also store my cooking pot in one of them so you have access to it wherever you are. You can have everything in my cabin. You deserve it and I won't need it anymore. You can use the whole house as your home base if you want though the shrine is far more secure. Though you should definitely take the furs from my bed so that you have proper bedding. Laying in the tub like you told me you do will leave all sorts of cricks in your back Link."

I nod, 'I will make use of everything you leave me, I promise. Thank you for taking such care to make sure that I have everything I need and that I'm not just lost floundering around.'

"Oh link, we would never do that to you. I want to tell you something, it may be a little upsetting. I like you now more than I liked you before. Of course I loved you before, you had been with us so long you were like my son. There were even rumors that my dear Zelda might marry you someday after the calamity. Alas, it was not to be. However, the war got to you. You were such a strong young man but it got to you. You became single minded, focused on your one goal and it affected fundamentally who you were. Far too much stress for people as young as all of you. Now you have a fresh slate though, figuratively and literally. Your memories are gone so you can find the joy in the world once again. And this makes me happy. More so than you will ever know. I know that the mission will likely be weighing heavily on you, but please don't stress to much about it. Honestly there is such a long time before he regains his full power, not forever, and not ten years or more, I am unsure of the time frame actually, but there is still time. Get stronger, live your life. Learn who you are. Then save them all Link."

I let all of that information sink in before leaning forward to lean against him. In the short time we had been here on the plateau together I had begun to see him as a father figure. I tell him so and he looks overjoyed, his eyes beaming and bright. 

"Another thing, Spirit orbs! So I am sure that you may have noticed that I didn't actually ask for them. I can't use them for anything. But you can. Those orbs are full of a gentle magic. By collecting them you exposed your body to more magic than you could have previously stood to be around. Now your tolerance has slowly been built up. There was a goddess statue inside remember? Now if you go to it. She should offer to take them in exchange for slowly making you more susceptible to the spiritual energy. You should be able to simply pray at one of the statues of the goddess. There is one right inside. Why don't we head into the temple and you can pray to the goddess and then see what happens. That is really the best way for you to experience it."

I nod and we head down making our way into the ruins of the temple. I pause and he strides a few steps ahead of me before he stops and looks back. 

'Its glowing! I've been here before and she never glowed before!'

"Yes I believe that she is reaching out to speak with you. Step forward and pray Link. It's time for you to meet the Goddess."

I slowly approach the glowing statues and kneel before her. I feel a bit silly and I don't really know how exactly I am going to handle this. I think in my head towards the statue. I don't really know how to word a prayer though. 

Please show me what it is you wish to tell me. 

That seems reasonable enough. I settle in for a long wait but it's barely a second later that I hear her. 

"Hello Link. You are finally awake. You who have conquered the shrines and claimed their spirit orbs. I can aid you on your spiritual journey. Every time you have collected four orbs, please come to me. I will help your body absorb the energy that has been gifted to you and prepare your body for the expansion. Only I do it so I can assure myself that others are not stealing orbs and stealing power. Some people are born with more power than others. You have been born with quite a bit. This will allow you to teleport up to two times a day without feeling exceptionally drained as long as you haven't used a lot of other big showy abilities that day either."

I feel myself slowly lifted in the air and I am very alarmed, but I feel my body relaxing and I feel stronger. She sets me back down and the glowing fades away slowly and her presence is gone. I want to ask her questions, she must be the one who healed me and kept me in stasis. But there is nothing anymore. She is gone. I slowly turn back to look at the King. 

'Wild.'

It makes me feel good to watch him laugh at my simple comment and I am pleased that I was able to make him happy.

"Now that you know what happens when you collect spirit orbs, let's talk about the shrines."

I nod and follow him over to another small crumbling wall and we settle down on it while watching the scenery. 

"I believe there are 140 shrines in total." I pale a little bit and I must look daunted at this huge task for he laughs a little. "You don't have to complete them all. You did last time. You were very powerful. But this time will be different, I am sure, though I don't know how. It will definitely help if you do but I don't think you will have to complete them all."

It sounds like he is trying to make me feel better about the task. But I know that I won't stop until I have completed all 140 of them. He does too. "42 of them are hidden and only available by solving some riddle or puzzle. I have a book in my house with the riddles and general location of each. I can't tell you the answers though." 

Great that made it even harder. At least I would have those hints though. I nod my head thanking him in my way. 

"Now I think that is actually everything that I have to impart to you."

I stand up quickly signing no repeatedly. I know what is coming and I don't want it to happen. 'Please don't leave me'

He is already starting to fade into soft swirling lights. I whimper a bit as he smiles at me kindly. "Oh Link my son. I wish that I could stay. I wish I could travel with you and help you. But I am old and am ready to move on. I will always watch over you and my dear daughter Zelda. Please take care of her once you can. Goodbye!' He had been slowly fading the whole time and then he is gone. I stand there a while staring at the spot he was. I instinctively know I will never talk with him again. I teleport back to my shrine and hunker down for the rest of the day and the night. I allow myself to grieve for the friend I had just lost. Though in honesty I had lost him a hundred years ago. However, the grief is raw.


	17. Back to the Cabin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy St. Patrick's day! I will be posting two chapters today! And that will finish off the Plateau!

The next morning I wake up still sad but knowing that I have work to do. I can't waste working time if I am healthy. Even if I am just sad. I will be heading back to the cabin today to collect what I can and bring it back to the shrine to organize and set up the chests for inventory and the books, I may also go hunting to put things in the preservation inventory. Some meat hopefully. I try to distract myself by thinking about all of these things logically and not step by step so that I won't get super worn out by the grief that still weighs heavily on me. 

It takes a while to get back to the cabin, it's a lovely day when I start out and I try to let that cheer me up as I stop to admire the scenery and collect resources that I find on my way there. The birds are chirping and the wild hogs are huffing. There is absolutely nothing here that is reminiscent of the scenes I witnessed yesterday. None of the grief or bloodshed of 100 years ago is left. The land has recovered for the most part. I pass by the temple glancing up at the high tower where I met the King yesterday. I almost fool myself into believing that he is still there. But I know he isn't really. The Goddess has reclaimed him and taken him home where he belongs. With the rest of his people in whatever afterlife we return too. Clouds are starting to encroach upon the sky and I start to worry about rain so I pick up the pace and don't stop as often to collect things from the ground. I can always come back after all. 

A few minutes before I arrive at the cabin it starts to pour. Lightning flashes across the sky and thunder rolls as I pull out my wooden shield to cover my head. The rain patters against it protecting my head at least but not really the rest of my body so by the time I duck through the doorway of the cabin I am soaked through. I turn and scowl back up at the pouring rain. I am shivering now and I know I should probably build a fire and try to dry out my clothes and myself. I strip down to my boxers and lay my clothes out across the table before pulling some of the chopped wood forward and using the tip of a fire arrow to ignite the wood. I am thrilled to discover that this trick works like I had theorized it would and know that as long as I always keep at least one of these arrows on me then I will never be without the ability to warm myself up or cook with a fire. I settle down by the fire warning myself up a little bit before I set to work. The first thing I do is check for the inventory chests. One of them is long and looks to be used for weapons since weapon designs are etched onto it. Another is rounder and etched with apples so I assume this is the preservation chest which I open up and verify because it is chilly inside. Light ice coating the sides. I wish I could ask someone how in the world this chest stayed so cold. The third chest isn't etched but mostly smooth. The ice chest was empty, and the weapons box only had a woodcutting axe and some homemade torches. This third one when I open it, is full of books, and a few pieces of clothing. All that are to large for me. But I might be able to make something out of them. I pull all of the books out setting them to the side and gather the books around the house as well stacking them all in the same place. 

I settle down before the pile of books first and start to sync them to my sheikah slate as directed. There are two volumes of magical creatures that I want to look through later and will have the ability too at my pleasure and my needed reference later on. I set those books before I move onto the next book. It's a cookbook and doesn't have a rune on the front of it so I simply set it aside in the regular chest as well. The next has a rune and seems to depict the magical plant items that are in world. I flick through this one for a moment and am pleased to find that I am pretty familiar with most of these already, a residual memory I suppose. Or something I never lost. There are also instructions on their best applications and how to make potions with them as well as recipes for food with the same effects which probably taste like a whole thousand times better. I sync this book as well glad to see that this process seems to really be working though flicking through the pages on the slate isn't as soothing as the pages in a proper book. But I suppose since I will be busy on the road this is the best way to read the books. I pick up the next one but this one feels different. It's a softer cover made out of some leather maybe. I flick it open and find diary entries. Slowly I skim over them. They seem to all be from the King. My King. Most of them are about being lonely here on the plateau. Some are about Zelda, when he speaks about her most of his words are even more mournful than his words of loneliness. He writes about me sometimes too. Waiting for me to wake and reminiscing on our shared past. He worries often that he put far to much pressure on his daughter and I. I don't remember it but based on his story that he told me, I have no choice except but to believe that is true. I am also not sure he had any other choice. I sigh turning to the last page there is anything written on and find a letter addressed to me. 

"Link,

Bit by bit, you may come to realize who I am. I am sorry for not revealing my identity to you sooner. The truth is, after you awoke from your long slumber of restoration, I did not know how to tell you all there was to say."

I frown a bit embarrassed to say that no I really didn't have any idea who he was. I had caught on to the fact that something was very odd about him. But I had never suspected that he was the king of this land or anything outrageous like I was the knight of a princess who was trapped in the castle battling that horrid entity. Okay, well maybe I had briefly entertained some of that but not really. 

"Perhaps deceiving you was not the right thing to do. Still... you must admit I put on a great performance! But all joking aside... what I ask of you is of the utmost importance, dear hero. I implore you, with all my heart... defeat calamity Ganon and save my precious daughter, Zelda. I understand this is no simple task I am asking of you, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can do it. I do not doubt it for a moment. I see courage in your eyes, just as I did 100 years ago. I believe in you Link."

The writing ends there and I sigh slowly closing the book before I put it in the chest as well. I had been hoping to deal with my grief systematically but it is crushing over me again and I slowly raise my hands to cradle my face as my tears slowly start to seep out again. I thought I had been all cried out but the stress of the situation is getting to me. The information is overwhelming on the little memories I have. I feel like I have simple desires. Live a happy cheerful life with little struggle. Instead I am some dated hero awake again after 100 years who has just lost the only person I know at all. I know I will meet more people but for now this is too much. 

After a while I sit back up and glance over the rest of the books. One of them is written only in runes and I sync that one just in case before putting it away. Another seems to be a story book about old legends of the land. I sync that one as well. The last and most interesting one seems to be about enchanted weapons like my arrows that catch on fire and blow up. Just glancing through it shows me that there are enchanted bows and swords and hammers as well. They are apparently enchanted not just with abilities but also with longevity so that they will not erode or fall to time. This is good news for me because it means I might find weapons like this out and about. It also means those creatures of Ganon might also be able to acquire them. This could make them tougher opponents. I sync it as well before putting it away. The next book I find is very small. It has a rune on the front so I sync it before looking inside. I gasp in shock quickly flicking through the pages. There is a list of every shrine in every region. Telling me how many are in each region and small hints on how to locate them. This is perhaps the most useful file if I remember to use it. It also states that there are 120 shrines not the 140 that the King had told me. That makes the task seem a little bit easier but not perfect. I could make sure to hit each trial before I moved on to another region. That would be absolutely grand. This is all of the books and so I turn to sync the chests. This takes much longer and I'm not sure that it is actually going to work. It does seem too good to be true. But why would he lie to me about it? Eventually the syncing process flashes complete and to my relief and joy the items in the chest to pop up in the inventory box as small images. I sync the other chests as well. They both work and the inventories appear on separate pages as well. This will make organizing a little bit easier as well. 

I sit back for a while resting. It's still raining and I shouldn't just throw myself off the high cliffs and hope for the best. I will organize a bit here and collect the things I need. The bedding and the pot. Maybe the table and chairs as well. They would be useful to have in my shrine. I collect everything settling it on the table and wrapping my arms over it all sitting on the table. I hope this works well enough. If it doesn’t I’ll make the rip out again tomorrow. I activate the teleportation and am grateful to arrive back safely in my shrine with everything. I organize the table and chests before curling up with my new bedding and falling asleep. I don't dream.


	18. Korok and the Blood Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TO MY SUBSCRIBERS AND OTHER READERS! This is the last CHAPTER of the PLATEAU! I will be posting the rest of the regions as well in a series. If you are subscribed for updates on this one, (first of all thank you I am so honored and hope to keep bringing you joy!) Please subscribe to the next one when it is posted! Or follow the series through the series button! Please let me know what you think!

It's been an exhausting day of practicing and foraging. I had woken up this morning still not feeling prepared to leave the plateau so I had practiced gliding and my other skills. The day had passed by quickly though I had made a lot of progress and I'm feeling better about my ability and my supplies. I decide that my best course of action is just to head back to my home shrine and get some sleep in the safety of locked doors. I head back trudging slowly up the hill. I feel far too tired emotionally and physically to even attempt to teleport. Eventually I make it locking the doors behind me and heading for the relative safety of my tub. 

But something is already there. I come to a halt staring at it. It looks like some sort of floating leaf person. It's small and green and is holding onto a stick with rapidly moving twigs that seem to enable it to stay afloat. I kick the ground a little to alert it to my presence and it turns and I still don't know what it is or understand it. Was this some other race of people? I thought there were only five races. I cautiously wave my hand at it and it flies quickly towards me. I take a quick step backwards staring at it in shock. It pauses in my face. "Link! Link it is really you! Oh I am so glad! The Deku tree said that he felt an unfamiliar energy from the shrine and said you might have awoken! And you have! Oh, I am so glad!" 

'Sorry, who are you?' I find it polite to ask who he is and not what he is. 

The creature seems to frown. "You mean you don't know who I am? Oh, you must have lost your memory..." 

I relax glad that it was able to understand me. I wasn't sure. 'I'm happy you understand my signing. But yes, I lost my memory. I'm sorry.' 

"No, no. It's okay. I actually learned the language from my parents who learned it from you I think. My name is Javi. I am a Korok!" 

I frown a little bit attempting to fingerspell the unfamiliar word. 

"Korok." Javi confirms and spells it for me. "We are the children of the forest. In the far reaches of northern Hyrule past the castle lies our forest. No one of the five races that populate this region live there and very few ever step foot in the area. Those who do often can't see us but those who have the ability to manipulate their spiritual energies like you do, those born with gifts, can occasionally see us depending on the strength of that ability. The great Deku tree resides there as well. When you are ready, make sure that you come to us. We have something of yours. Oh also, these inventory chests? There is a very special korok named Hestu. He knows how to make them. He is very fond of these korok seeds. If you find them and take them to him, he will make you more of the chests and hook up the teleportation ability to your sheikah slate."

I must look impressed because he makes a little tittering noise. "Here I will give you one now to help you start out. We are all over Hyrule though our home is in the forest. If you can catch one of us we will give you a seed. Not all of us know your HSL though so if you have to ask them for it just show them another seed you have. Or use Navi." 

I frown confused 'what's that?' I fingerspell the word back and he frowns. 

"Can I look at your sheikah slate?" I nod holding it out and booting it up for him. "Oh man. Its corrupted. The data is all incomplete. Well I guess it doesn't matter since you can't use it and if you don't remember you won't miss it. Don't worry about it then."

I'm not fully satisfied with this answer but I don't want to push this odd green creature so I simply nod. He flies in a little circle around me, "hmm how odd. You seem to be in perfect health physically but your ability to harness your gifts and manipulate energy is dangerously low. I suppose you shouldn't head straight to the forest to pick it up... you need to be a lot stronger before you will be able to harness it. So make sure that you go and visit lots of shrines and get lots of spirit orbs! You already know all about those right? The more you collect the more the Great Goddess can aid you in slowly increasing your ability to hold and manage that power. It's a shame really. You had completed every shrine there was before the fall. Well I suppose it won't be much of a hardship to redo them since you don't remember doing them at all! It will be just like a brand new great adventure! Well how about this then! I would suggest you need to increase your management capabilities another nine times through the goddess to have the absolute minimum to be able to manage the sacred artifact. So... that's 40 more shrines! That's basically something you could have done in a week! Then you can come and get your sacred artifact!" 

I must not look impressed, I don't know where they are but I doubt even past me could have completed that many in a week, but the Korok laughs cheerfully and changes the subject. He chats with me a bit more seeming very concerned about my health and playing with the slate for a few moments before giving up on it. Seems like he can’t get it to do what he wants. 

"I need to get back and tell the Deku tree everything I learned today! I am so glad that you are so well and healthy! Don't forget to come see us! You will need what we have for your mission!" 

With that Javi flies away and I blink watching him go. What an unusual creature. What was a Deku tree? I didn't even get to ask. I sigh and start organizing my supplies before settling down to get some rest. I have brought the mattress from the old house anyway and stuffed it into my tub because that is where I am most comfortable. I also have the furs from his house so I am actually quite comfortable this time around though I am glad that I have my tub back.The bedding the King gave me has made it more comfortable but I should see if I can find anyone that can teach me how to make hides into a blanket, that way if I hunt any dear I can make extra bedding. One can never have too many fur blankets and If I can find a needle and thread I can try and make warm clothes as well. I could have stayed at the old man's house, it was less stale and probably more comfortable. It had everything I needed. But being there also made me sad. I fall asleep dreaming of the outside world, tomorrow I will finally leave this plateau, I will truly journey. Into the wild. 

Except that I am woken up. I don't know what time it is but my body is complaining and I feel fuzzy. I'm not sure what woke me up. I look around for a source but nothing is immediately apparent. But then I hear her voice, Zelda's voice. "Link! Wake up!" I think to her, I'm awake Zelda I'm awake. But why? But I don't actually know how to send telepathic messages like she apparently can do. But apparently she already knows. "Go outside. You will be safe. They are not out tonight." 

I frown a bit. Does she mean the undead? Regardless I do as she says and head out the door of my sanctuary. It's still dark out and I don't see anything out of the ordinary. The light seems a bit weird though. But for the most part the world looks like it always does. "The moon Link, look up at the moon!" Her voice sounds urgent and in an attempt to soothe her I look up at the moon and am in shock to find that it looks far different than it has ever looked before. The moon is red! Not only is it red but it looks like it has swirling red smoky energy swirling around it and reaching out over the earth. I wonder if she can see me and decide to test the theory since she seems to know where I am. 'Red!' I sign leaning forward a bit trying to explain that I am distressed and upset by this new occurrence. It's out of place. 

"Yes Link. The moon is red!" 

She sounds relieved and I feel relieved as well. She could see me! She could understand me! Well of course she could if I was her appointed knight. We had a way to communicate! I start to sign again but notice something else, smoke, and cinders floating in the air that weren't there before she continues talking. 

"Midnight. It happens at midnight"

I slowly nod my head. Well that would be useful if I had a way to tell the time. But I don't so it doesn't matter. 

"On the night of the full moon."

That was a little bit more useful. But what exactly happens because of this? What was it? The sky is getting redder and redder, the smoke and cinders getting thicker. Were the people outside of here terrified? I am.

"Link, link! Be on your guard!"

While she speaks she pulls on my mind and a similar phenomenon to what I experienced with the king comes over me and I am seeing images that are not in front of me. The castle with the creature of malice and greed howling at the moon. 

"Ganon's power grows, it rises to its peak under the hour of the blood moon. An ancient curse placed upon this land and activated with the calamities occurence. Placed by the king of malice himself they say. By its glow the spirits of the monsters slain in the name of the light will return to flesh. Ganon's powerful energy makes this possible. He returns to them weapons that are here in the castle. He gives them to these creatures and returns them to where they were slain."

Images flash of areas that I have cleared out and creatures reappearing there. Great. That was exactly what I needed! So I couldn't just clear out the monsters and save these people. They would just come back until I destroyed Ganon himself. 

"Link, please be careful..."

The images fade and the cinders are slowly disappearing from the sky. Her voice fades out slowly. "The undead do not walk during the blood moon, the undead are a result of Ganon's weaker form. They appear more directly after the blood moon and slowly decrease in appearance the closer we get to a blood moon until he is out of energy. The night of the blood moon he focuses on his monsters resurrection which is why they do not appear then. I am tired now Link. Rest, you have a long journey ahead of you, and I have a fight to continue." 

She fades out of my mind and I stand there a little bit longer processing all of this information. This was not good news. But if their supplies was restored I could collect more arrows and weapons from them without worrying about what sentient creature was killed for the monsters to have them. I glance back up at the moon for just a moment and see that it is no longer red. It was still very beautiful. Just no longer a beauty that precedes death. 

I turn and lock myself back into the shrine. I have a lot to think about and I fear it will be a long time before I am able to fall back asleep. I take time to write down everything that has happened since the last time I wrote trying to wear myself out. Eventually I succeed and I slowly lay back down blinking slowly in the blue light. I really hope that I can do what everyone is hoping I will be able to do. These people seem to truly believe in my abilities but I don't even remember any of these things. My dreams are restless. Full of thoughts and images of me failing and dooming the people of this world to a fate worse than death.


End file.
